Fingerprinting red wine

06-Dec-2010 - USA

A sensor that can discriminate between different tannins and be used to fingerprint a wide variety of red wines to confirm their authenticity has been developed.

US scientists report in Chemical Science that they made the sensor with colour-changing indicators. They used it to test wine samples and were able to distinguish between specific flavonoids, in particular looking at tannins, which are responsible for colour, aging ability and texture.

When wine is added to the sensor, the indicators are displaced, which results in a colour change that can be monitored and recorded. Patterns emerged for different wine varietals. The team could also classify wines from the same varietal and they were able to link the tannins to the genome of the specific grape.

Original publication: A P Umali, S E LeBoeuf, R W Newberry, S Kim, L Tran, W A Rome, T Tian, D Taing, J Hong, M Kwan, H Heymann and E V Anslyn; Chem. Sci., 2010.

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