Cations represent an important part of the ash content and they can contribute to characterize wines from different viticultural regions. The purpose of this work was to determine the concentration of the main cations in the wines of the Serra Gaúcha region in Brazil. Six hundred table wines, primarily from American/hybrid varieties, and 380 wines elaborated with Vitis vinifera varieties, both including red, rosé and white wines, were analyzed. The analyses of K+, Na+, Li+ and Rb+ were performed by flame emission, while Ca++, Mg++, Mn++, Fe++, Cu++ and Zn++ analyses were performed by atomic absorption. Data were submitted to analysis of variance and the Tukey test and to Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Results showed that there was no significant difference in the concentration of Na+, Cu++ and Zn++ cations among the different kinds of wine from the Serra Gaúcha viticultural region; red table wine had a higher Mn++ concentration than the vinifera wines; table and vinifera rosés presented higher Fe++ concentration; and vinifera had higher K+ and Rb+ values. PCA permitted the differentiation of wines by their color - red, rosé and white - and by their kind - vinifera and table wine.
minerals; chemical composition; characterization
