NIR spectroscopy and chemometrics for the typification of Spanish wine vinegars with a protected designation of origin

High-quality wine vinegars protected by the indication “Protected Designation of Origin” (PDO) need efficient tools to protect their brands and prevent adulteration and unfair competition. In this sense, Near-Infrared spectroscopy (NIRs) combined with chemometrics has demonstrated its usefulness in food authentication. This work assessed NIRs and Chemometrics as a rapid and non-destructive methodology for this purpose. In this study, 83 high-quality wine vinegars of the Spanish PDOs “Vinagre de Jerez”, “Vinagre de Condado de Huelva” and “Vinagre de Montilla-Moriles” of different categories, and 11 wine vinegars without PDO, were analyzed in the range 12000-4000 cm−1. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to explore the spectra and Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) was used to build classification models. The high ability of prediction obtained (>90% correct classification) demonstrated the usefulness of this methodology for authentication of PDO wine vinegars and their categories.