Authenticity markers in Aglianico, Uva di Troia, Negroamaro and Primitivo grapes.

Aglianico, Negroamaro, Uva di Troia, and Primitivo, non-aromatic red grapes of southern Italy, were analyzed with respect to berry varietal markers, namely anthocyanins, flavonols, hydroxycinnamoyl tartaric acids (HPLC-DAD) and glycosidic aroma precursors (GC-MS) together with shikimic acid (HPLC-UV). In this study, we confirmed that the relative amount of grape glycosidic precursors from various terpene families was a helpful varietal discriminating factor. An additional decisive contribution to varietal differentiation was also provided by shikimic acid, acetylated forms of anthocyanins, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, trans-caftaric and trans-coutaric acids. A three-dimensional model of principal component analysis was adopted to evidence the study results. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.