Wine should ONLY be wine. Application Summary Compendium

Importance of Topic

Wine composition reflects both natural grape constituents and processing inputs. Monitoring phenolic compounds, pesticide residues, isotopic ratios, trace metals, impurities, and key quality markers such as sulfites, acidity and glycerol is vital for ensuring authenticity, safety, and sensory quality. Advanced analytical techniques support compliance with regulations, protect consumer health, and guide production decisions.

Objectives and Study Overview

The compendium presents a suite of application summaries, each targeting a different class of analytes in red wine or other alcoholic beverages. The goals include:

• Quantification of catechins and phenolic acids
• Multi-residue pesticide screening
• Isotope ratio analysis for authentication
• Elemental and trace metal determination
• Identification of volatile and non-volatile impurities
• Rapid measurement of free sulfite, acetaldehyde, total acidity and glycerol

Methodology and Instrumentation

Sample preparation and analysis workflows vary by target analyte:

• Solid-phase extraction and gradient HPLC for polyphenols
• QuEChERS extraction and LC-MS/MS for pesticides
• Direct equilibration with GasBench II and IRMS for water isotopes
• Elemental analysis with FlashEA1112 HT and DELTA V IRMS for ethanol isotopes
• UHPLC coupled to high-resolution Orbitrap MS for direct phenolic profiling
• Flame atomic absorption (iCE 3300 AA) and ICP-OES (iCAP 7400) for metals
• GC-MS with SPME sampling for volatile impurities
• Automated photometry (Gallery, Arena analyzers) for free SO₂, acetaldehyde, total acidity, glycerol

Key Results and Discussion

All methods demonstrate high sensitivity, precision and throughput:

• Excellent recovery and separation of nine catechins and phenolic acids on PFP column
• Low LOQs, good linearity and reproducibility for 24 pesticides by LC-MS/MS
• High-precision δ18O measurements on GasBench II without memory effects
• Simultaneous δ13C, δ18O and δ2H isotope ratios of ethanol at ≤0.1‰ precision
• Ultra-fast UHPLC-Orbitrap analysis resolves complex antioxidant profiles in minutes
• Metals quantified to regulatory limits with FAAS and ICP-OES
• Volatile markers detected below sensory thresholds by GC-MS
• Automated colorimetric/enzymatic assays deliver results for SO₂, acetaldehyde, acidity and glycerol in under 35 minutes

Benefits and Practical Applications

These workflows enable winemakers, regulatory bodies and research laboratories to:

• Verify product authenticity and geographical origin
• Ensure compliance with safety and labeling regulations
• Optimize winemaking processes and quality control
• Rapidly screen for off-flavors and contaminants
• Reduce labor and solvent consumption via automated platforms

Future Trends and Potential Uses

Ongoing developments include integration of high-resolution MS with machine learning for fingerprinting, miniaturized portable IRMS for field authenticity checks, and expansion of automated multi-analyte platforms for on-line process monitoring. Coupling data analytics with comprehensive wine databases will further enhance origin verification and quality prediction.

Conclusion

The compiled application notes illustrate a comprehensive analytical toolkit for wine and related beverages. By leveraging advanced SPE, chromatography, mass spectrometry, spectroscopy and automated photometry, laboratories can achieve robust, high-throughput assays that underpin regulatory compliance, product quality and consumer confidence.

Reference

No explicit literature references were provided in the source document. Instrumentation and methods are drawn from Thermo Fisher Scientific application summaries.