Sr ISOTOPES AND ROMAGNA WINES: AN OPPORTUNITY FOR BETTER TRADING?

The Sr isotopic compositions of 11 wines from Romagna were determined with the aim of providing a new parameter to track the origin of these wines and serving for better trading. The 87Sr values measured ranged narrowly from -0.07 to +0.33 permil, in agreement with the provenance of the parent grapes from an area characterized by substantial uniformity of soil composition. However, so far, it is possible to make a preliminary distinction of the Sangiovese wines from the other wines analyzed because the former contain slightly more radiogenic Sr. This may reflect the different soil geology of vineyards, as the Sangiovese wines are made from grapes mainly growing on flysch soils, while the other wines are from grapes growing on sedimentary and alluvial Pliocene-Quaternary soils. The comparison of the data from Romagna wines with those of other Italian regions shows the potential of the 87Sr to characterize most of these products. However, the data are ambiguous for distinguishing the wines from vinyards growing on similar lithologies, i.e. soils developed on Late Cenozoic sedimentary rocks. The application of Sr isotopes may be a promising tool for setting the fingerprints of wines when combined with other isotopic and chemical parameters