Gas Chromatography Combustion Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry for Improving the Detection of Authenticity of Grape Must

Since ancient times, grape must and wine have been considered one of the most sophisticated matrices and, in the last few years, the continuous rise in volumes and prices of grapes and wine has encouraged fraud and adulteration in the oenological field. One of the most common adulterations is sugar addition to grape must in the form of cane or beet sugar or syrup coming from vegetable sources, such as cereals or fruits. Since 1990, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) has issued specific official isotopic methods to fight against this practice, but they are not always effective. With the aim to develop a new method able to identify sugar addition, we compared the δ13C value of sugar extracted from grape must analyzed by elemental analyzer/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA-IRMS) to the δ13C value of proline analyzed by gas chromatography-combustion isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS), after extraction and derivatization. δ13C and δ15N of proline have also been tested as potential geographical markers. In addition, the carbon isotopic composition of two characteristic grape must sugars (myo- and scyllo-inositols) was measured by GC-C-IRMS, after derivatization, to identify the illegal correction of their concentration. On the basis of the obtained results we can conclude that the compound-specific isotope analysis represents a novel analytical tool to support and improve certification and control procedures.