Influence of Chemical and Physical Variables on 87Sr/86Sr Isotope Ratios Determination for Geographical Traceability Studies in the Oenological Food Chain

Abstract

This study summarizes the results obtained from a systematic and long-term project aimed at the development of tools to assess the provenance of food in the oenological sector. 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios were measured on a representative set of soils, branches, and wines sampled from the Chianti Classico wine production area. In particular, owing to the high spatial resolution of the 87Sr/86Sr ratio in the topsoil, the effect of two mill techniques for soil pretreatment was investigated to verify the influence of the particle dimension on the measured isotopic ratios. Samples with particle sizes ranging from 250 to less than 50 µm were investigated, and the extraction was performed by means of the DIN 19730 procedure. For each sample, the Sr isotope ratio was determined as well. The obtained results showed that the 87Sr/86Sr ratio is not influenced by soil particle size and may represent an effective tool as a geographic provenance indicator for the investigated product.