Principal component analysis of the polyphenol content in young red wines

In the present study the content of 15 polyphenols was determined in 55 samples of red wines from different denominations of origin in the Canary Islands (Spain) using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV and fluorescence detection. The most important differences in content among wines according to different categories (island, zone and denomination of origin) were established. In general, red wines from the Canary Islands had a content in polyphenols in the lower part of the range considered normal. The exception was quercetin, with a mean content (17.5 mg/l) higher than in other wines, which may be a peculiarity of these particular wines. The principal component analysis (PCA) technique was used to study the latent structure. A good differentiation among wines according to their production area was obtained using linear discriminant analysis (LDA). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.