Genetic traceability of Asti Spumante and Moscato d'Asti musts and wines using nuclear and chloroplast microsatellite markers

The final characteristics of a wine are strongly influenced by must varietal composition. Further, wine quality and value can be heavily modified if grape varieties other than those expected/allowed are used, especially in the case of monovarietal wines. Microsatellite DNA analysis is a powerful, objective, and reliable technique for grapevine characterization. Extending its use to the identification of the exact grape cultivar(s) present in musts and wines could be particularly relevant for the traceability and authenticity of monovarietal wines. This study focuses on the use of nuclear and chloroplast simple sequence repeats (SSRs) for the traceability of grape cultivar(s) in “Moscato bianco” musts and wines. More specifically, it focuses on two monovarietal wines, Asti Spumante and Moscato d’Asti.