A Review of the Authentication of Wine Origin by Molecular Markers

Burçak İşçi^1,3, Hatice Kalkan Yildirim² and Ahmet Altindişli¹
¹ Ege University Faculty of Agriculture Department of Horticulture, 35100 Bornova/İZMİR, Turkey.
² Ege University Faculy of Engineering of Food, 35100 Bornova/ İZMİR, Turkey.
³Corresponding author. E-mail: burcak.isci@ege.edu.tr.

J. Inst. Brew. 115(3), 259–264, 2009 | VIEW ARTICLE

ABSTRACT
Viniculture is one of the oldest agricultural activities of humans. The selection of grape varieties is of primary concern for factors such as wine quality and is dependent on the grapevine variety employed. Under today’s conditions, and the sanctions imposed by world markets in the competitive wine sector, wine producers have been compelled to use different analysis methods in order to prove quality. However, some of these methodologies can be very time-consuming. Recently, highly polymorphic molecular markers have been applied to the characterisation and differentiation of grapes in must and wine. With DNA profiles, the determination of origin and the use of this information on the label can act as a powerful quality control tool in the wine sector. In this review, the advantages of molecular markers and the applications of the markers in determining the origin in must and wine, are discussed with the aim of bringing together the limited number of studies (studies conducted with DNA markers) related to the determination of the grape variety in must and wine.

Key words:
DNA, grape, molecular marker, wine.