## 4 Conclusions  
In general, this study achieved the effective identification of different sub-producing areas at the eastern foothills of Helan Mountain through the combination of GC\(\times\)GC-TOFMS technology and a chemometrics analysis. Moreover, it revealed the influence of climatic factors on flavor characteristics, thereby providing important theoretical support for addressing the homogenization issue of wine in small producing areas and establishing a traceability technology system for producing areas. It also offered a new perspective on the sustainable development of the wine industry. A total of 184 volatile compounds were identified, of which 124 were common to all producing areas. Although some specific compounds were only present in specific producing areas, these compounds did not play a crucial role in the identification of producing areas. This reflects that the main aroma  
Figure 5: A correlation heat map between the substances of key compounds (VIP \(>\) 1) and meteorological factors. * is shown when the correlation is significant at \(p<0.05\).  
characteristics do not simply depend on the presence of a few volatile compounds. The main volatile components were fermentation-derived alcohols and esters, which endow wine with aromatic properties. Through identifying compounds with an OAV > 1 and conducting an aroma vector analysis, it was discovered that \"flowery\" and \"fruity\" are the most important aromatic series in Cabernet Sauvignon wines from the eastern foothills of Helan Mountain. Moreover, relatively lower maturity can enhance the retention of these desirable aromatic characteristics. Fifteen substances (VIP > 1) play a crucial role in the identification of producing areas, particularly phenylethyl alcohol and isoamyl alcohol. The accumulation of phenylethyl alcohol was negatively correlated with the duration of sunshine during the growth stage, while it was significantly positively correlated during the maturity stage. Due to the crucial role of phenylethyl alcohol in the identification of producing areas, the impact of sunshine conditions on the variation in wine flavor was further demonstrated. Wine producers can adjust the harvesting time based on the climate data during the growth stage to optimize the flavor characteristics. Future studies can further investigate the underlying biological mechanisms of the observed correlations, particularly the effects of environmental factors on the accumulation of volatile compounds.  
The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13223644/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13223644/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13223644/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods13223644/s1)), Table S1: The content of volatile compounds in wines from different producing areas.  
Conceptualization, Y.Z., Q.G., and X.S.; methodology, X.S.; software, J.L., and Y.W.; formal analysis, Y.Z., Q.G., and X.S.; investigation, Y.Z., and Z.C.; resources, Q.G., Z.C., and W.J.; data curation, Y.Z.; writing--original draft preparation, Y.Z.; writing--review and editing, M.W., W.J., X.S., and Y.F.; supervision, X.S., and Y.F. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation Project (32260628), the Innovation Capacity Support Plan of Ningxia (2023 BCF01024 and 2024 BBF02003), and the Innovation Capacity Support Plan of Shaanxi Province (2024 NC-ZDCYL-04-22-02, 2024 QCY-KJ-083, and 2023-YBNY-176, 2023 KJ-171).  
Not applicable.  
The data presented in this study are available upon request from the corresponding authors. The data are not publicly available due to privacy restrictions.  
The authors would like to acknowledge the Life Science Research Core Services (LSRCS) of Northwest A&F University for their valuable contribution in conducting the GC\(\times\)GC-Q-TOF MS analysis.  
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.