Influence of atmospheric pollution on the lead content of wines

Over the last century, the atmospheric fallout of anthropogenic lead has ev olved with time, as a function of the chronological variability of transien t lead inputs from both industrial and gasoline origins. This variability h as been mostly documented over North America and northern Europe. In this s tudy we used ICP-MS for the determination of lead isotope ratios and showed that a series of French wines followed the evolution of the environmental lead record over the last century. We observe the same three-step chronolog ical evolution of the lead isotopic composition, which reflects a western E uropean signal. In the post 1950 vintages, the lead isotope composition ref lects a dominant atmospheric fallout. Since similar to 1950, Pb concentrati ons have been much lower than before, decreasing consistently from similar to 0.25 mg l(-1) around the early 1950s, down to less than similar to 0.1 m g l(-1) nowadays. Reflecting the airborne pollution, the lead isotopic sign ature is also specific of the continental origin of the wines and lead isot ope ratios determination in wines appears to be a promising tool for certif ying wine authenticity.