Angel鈥檚 Share Combats Wine Fraud: 14C Dating of Wine without Opening the Bottle

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• 作者：Simon M. Fahrni ; Benjamin T. Fuller ; John R. Southon
• 刊名：Analytical Chemistry
• 出版年：2015
• 出版时间：September 1, 2015
• 年：2015
• 卷：87
• 期：17
• 页码：8646-8650
• 全文大小：232K
• ISSN：1520-6882

文摘

The problem of fraud continues to plague the wine industry, and detecting cases where the original bottle has been refilled with an inferior vintage is especially difficult. A novel noninvasive procedure presented here relies on radiocarbon dating the so-called angel鈥檚 share: the trace amounts of ethanol and other gases that diffuse into and through the cork as bottled wine ages and matures. These are collected by applying a vacuum to the top of the bottle and cryo-trapping the extracted gas, leaving the liquid contents untouched. Vintage verification is therefore possible without exposing the liquid contents to the atmosphere, which may render a bottle costing tens of thousands of dollars worthless for later resale and consumption. The method also has a potential for stable isotope ratio as well as chemical analysis to find indications for fraud or spoilage of fine and rare wines as well as other liquids with cork stoppers.