ISOTOPE RATIO MASS-SPECTROMETRY - ANALYSIS OF WINES FROM DIFFERENT EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Natural stable isotope ratios for carbon, hydrogen and oxygen depend o n the origin of the studied chemical compound. Such a precept is the b asis of the control of the authenticity of food and especially alcohol ic beverages. C-13/C-12 analysis of ethanol as well as O-18/O-16 deter mination of water contained in wines from different European countries underline the importance of the photosynthetic pathway as well as of the environmental and climatological conditions of the vine. Interesti ng results in agreement with isotopic fractionation rules for the geog raphical origin of the samples were obtained. That encouraged us to pr opose the establishment of a database for isotopic parameters in wines .