A team of wine researchers from the University of Adelaide is using new technology analysing the fluorescence of molecules to help authenticate wine and combat wine fraud globally.
The scientists are developing a fast and simple method of authenticating wine by using ‘molecular fingerprinting’ through fluorescence spectroscopy. The process successfully identified the origins of three Cabernet Sauvignon wines from three regions across Australia and Bordeaux, France with 100 per cent accuracy.
The researchers compared an existing approach for authentication, which involves measuring elements in wine samples using ‘inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry’ (ICP-MS), with the more “simple, rapid and cost-effective” fluorescence spectroscopy technique.
“This method provides a ‘fingerprint’ of the samples according to the presence of fluorophoric or light-emitting compounds,” said Ruchira Ranaweera, PhD student in the University’s Waite Research Institute.
“When used in combination with a robust data analysis using a particular machine learning algorithm, it is proving to be a powerful technique for authentication.”
“Wine authentication can help to avoid any uncertainty around wine labelling according to origin, variety, or vintage. The application of a relatively simple technique like this could be adapted for use in the supply chain as a robust method for authentication or detection of adulterated wines.”
A range of applications using the technology for the wine industry which are in the pipeline also include phenolic and wine colour analysis, and smoke taint detection.
The research was published in the journal Food Chemistry and was supported by Wine Australia and the Australian Government, the Waite Research Institute and industry partners through the ARC Training Centre for Innovative Wine Production.
