Multivariate analysis of commercial and laboratory produced Sherry wine vinegars: influence of acetification and aging

One of the problems in the characterization of vinegars is the wide range o f values obtained for the main physicochemical and sensorial parameters. Th e production method, raw material, and wood aging are factors of variation among wine vinegars. Twenty-seven vinegar samples corresponding to differen t wine substrates (Sherry wine, white wine) and different acetification met hods (traditional method, acetification by submerged culture in acetators) were used to perform this study. Selected variables include those that play a major role in the final quality: aroma compounds and organic acids. Prin cipal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis (CA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and classification by artificial neural networks training b y backpropagation (BPNN) were used to carry out the characterization. Sherr y vinegars made by traditional methods and obtained either in the market or in the wineries were differentiated from Sherry vinegars obtained in the l aboratory fermenter (aged or not in wood). Thus, the acetification method p lays a major role in the characterization when these variables are consider ed.