Mineral element content of some Georgian wines

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine mineral element composition in three selected wine samples (Aladasturi, Chkhaveri and Tsolikouri) produced in Adjara region of Western Georgia. All sample wines are made from grapes variety grown in Adjara region and were from 2015 to 2017 vintages. Plasma-atomic emission spectrometer ICPE-9820 has been used for qualitative and quantitative determination of the elements in the required concentration range, because of a high sensitivity, a wide dynamic range and a high sample throughput of this spectrometer. The ICPE-9820 provides axial view plasma observation in a direction coaxial to the plasma, and in addition to axial view, provides radial view plasma observation in the perpendicular direction. This dual view capability allows measurements to switch automatically between high-sensitivity axial view and high-accuracy radial view, enabling analysis of elements across a broad concentration range with a single method. In this study, sixteen mineral elements (Al, Ba, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Zn, Ni, Pb, Cd, Co, Cr and Li) were analyzed. The analysis was performed by diluting wine samples 10 times with deionized water, without any prior preparation, followed by sequential determination of the elements by ICPE. The higher concentrations were noted for major elements as follows: potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium and iron. The lowest concentrations were noted for minor elements: manganese, aluminium, barium, zinc and copper. Such trace elements as nickel, chromium and lithium were found under the limit of quantitation. Plumbum, cadmium and cobalt were under the limit of detection. Analyzing concentration levels of elemental composition, it can be concluded that depending on the color of the wine, the content of the individual element was different. Data obtained showed that none of the wine samples surpassed the toxic levels reported for metals in the literature and were within the allowed metals levels in wines for human consumption.