Wine Analysis
Learn what A-TEEM Spectroscopy can do for Wine, Spirits, Beer and Tea analysis.
Wine analysis is the characterization of the various chemical components of wine and grapes.
Contemporary “wet” methods of wine analysis are costly, slow, and difficult to execute. This makes it challenging for wineries with multiple vineyards to QA/QC its grape development and wine product in widespread locations.
HORIBA’s Aqualog uses a fluorescence spectroscopy technique that simultaneously collects absorbance, transmission, and fluorescence Excitation Emission Matrixes acquisition, Better known as, “A-TEEM” it characterizes a sample’s content in seconds. It can collect the entire composition of all the colored and phenolic compounds in less than a minute. And as a small unit, can be stationed throughout a winery’s vineyards.
Wineries typically send out samples of the grapes to analytical labs to be tested for wine analysis on costly, hard-to-maintain equipment. The traditional devices are slow, and since so many samples must be run to monitor multiple harvests, it becomes an expensive and time-consuming process.
The conventional methods most labs use for wine analysis are Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The equipment is costly, difficult to calibrate, and quite expensive. These are also slow and costly to process results.
In fact, it takes between 35 and 90 minutes to analyze a single sample in an independent laboratory using conventional methods to fingerprint the grapes. And it can cost hundreds of dollars per sample.
A typical small winery would like to test each wine field location many times during the wine-making season.
Maintaining calibration and transferring calibrations to field locations and places where analysis takes place is crucial.
Wine analysis entails many quality characteristics that interest winemakers that relate to the color of the wine and the phenolic content – compounds that affect the wine’s taste, color, and mouthfeel.
All of these characteristics, including the pH and sugar content, are routinely evaluated by instruments for each batch of grapes. The intention is to have a survey that's representative of the particular vineyard and different locations in the vineyard.
Large wine companies have many different vineyards from which they are collecting grapes. Thus, it’s clearly expensive for most small vineyards, let alone very large vineyards and wine companies to have to manage a comprehensive characterization of all the key parameters.
A-TEEM is HORIBA’S proprietary fluorescence spectroscopy technology that simultaneously acquires, Absorbance, Transmission, and fluorescence Excitation and Emission Matrix measurements, correcting for the inner filter effect on the fly.
What this means is that it can produce a molecular fingerprint of the phenolic content and other key measurement components in wine analysis.
It replaces HPLC in wine analysis with a fast, inexpensive, accurate, fluorescence spectrometer
The A-TEEM-capable Aqualog, can run a sample in less than a minute, and collect the entire composition of all the colored and phenolic compounds. And the analysis can be fully automated in terms of the phenolic identity and concentration.
Several world-renowned wineries have adopted this technology, and since it features portability and low sample costs allows it to be deployed in multiple locations.
Of the hundreds of different compounds that have been identified in grapes, it is the phenolic content of ripening grape berries that fundamentally determines the quality of a wine. The different classes of phenolics (anthocyanins, tannins, flavonols, catechins) affect the color, the mouthfeel, flavor and aroma to various extent, and most of these compounds fluoresce. The individual compounds comprising these classes of phenolics together give the wines their unique character. The A-TEEM data collected by Aqualog is used upstream and downstream to evaluate lot-to-lot, regional, and varietal characteristics in wine and grape juice.
Classical Least Squared (CLS) analysis of the wines and spirits based upon a library of 9 phenolic compounds for illustrative purposes yields their relative contribution to the total phenolic fingerprint normalized to 100%. Significant differences between wines and spirits are reflected visibly in their phenolic compound fingerprints, acquired with Aqualog.
View the many publications on A-TEEM spectroscopy and beverages and read the articles about real researchers are using A-TEEM in thier labs.
A-TEEM is a rapid spectroscopic approach for characterization of poly-phenolic content in red wines and can be used for wine-fingerprinting.
Multivariate spectroscopy for targeting phenolic choreography in wine with A-TEEM™ and NMR crosscheck non-targeted metabolomics
A-TEEM can evaluate of >40 key wine quality control parameters including low-molecular weight phenolics, anthocyanins, basic chemistry parameters and tannins:
"Determination of Cabernet Sauvignon wine quality parameters in Chile by Absorbance-Transmission and fluorescence Excitation Emission Matrix (A-TEEM) spectroscopy"
A-TEEM has been used for geographical authentication for wines
"Authentication of the geographical origin of Australian Cabernet Sauvignon wines using spectrofluorometric and multi-element analyses with multivariate statistical modelling"
The Aqualog and A-TEEM spectroscopy can provide information on wine varieties and oxidation characteristics of key phenolic and anthocyanin compounds:
"Spectroscopic analysis of red wines with A-TEEM molecular fingerprinting"
The A-TEEM technique can be used for effective classification of wine-storage conditions to differentiate different American and French oak barrels from each other and stainless steel containers:
"Multivariate spectroscopy for targeting phenolic choreography in wine with A-TEEM and NMR crosscheck non-targeted metabolomics"
A-TEEM coupled with machine learning can be used for highly accurate classification of wines by both region and variety:
"Spectrofluorometric analysis combined with machine learning for geographical and varietal authentication, and prediction of phenolic compound concentrations in red wine"
This study documents the ability of the A-TEEM coupled with machine-learning methods to confirm the terroir of Shiraz wines:
"Application of fluorescence spectroscopy with multivariate analysis for authentication of Shiraz wines from different regions"
This is an important study documenting the ability of the A-TEEM to authenticate and quantify mixtures of different wine varieties:
"Spectrofluorometric analysis to trace the molecular fingerprint of wine during the winemaking process and recognise the blending percentage of different varietal wines"
This study shows the benefits of asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation for non-invasiveness and reliability when characterizing the chromophoric colloidal matter in Burgundy wines:
"Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation of white wine chromophoric colloidal matter"
A unique study documenting how combined multivariate analysis of A-TEEM and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy can be a useful tool for monitoring wine fermentation:
"Multispectral fluorescence sensitivity to acidic and polyphenolic changes in Chardonnay wines – The case study of malolactic fermentation"
This study documents how the Aqualog and A-TEEM can provide exquisite correlations with sensory perception characteristics important for wine quality evaluation:
"Modelling Cabernet-Sauvignon wine sensory traits from spectrofluorometric data"
This study combines and correlates ultrahigh resolution MS and A-TEEM spectroscopies to understand how sulfites and stoppers influence the fingerprint characteristics of wine:
"Sulfites and the wine metabolome"
This novel study revealed that SO2 – and vintage-dependent signatures, showed the extent of their effects on key fluorescence EEM components, even after several years of bottle aging:
"Fluorescence fingerprinting of bottled white wines can reveal memories related to sulfur dioxide treatments of the must"
This important study shows how MS and A-TEEM fingerprints reveal the effects of Grapevine Trunk Diseases on the leaf metabolome:
"Clone-Dependent Expression of Esca Disease Revealed by Leaf Metabolite Analysis"
This paper shows how untargeted A-TEEM analysis can be used to evaluate the influence of the Oenococcus oeni lifestyle (planktonic vs. biofilm) on malolactic acid fermentation:
"Chemical Transfers Occurring Through Oenococcus oeni Biofilm in Different Enological Conditions"
This study shows that the A-TEEM can differentiate whisky as a function of oak maturation time:
"Influence of regionality and maturation time on the chemical fingerprint of whisky."
A unique study comparing the type of distillation (Coffey vs. Pot still) and yeast lees aging of the molasses to show how A-TEEM spectroscopy can be used for effective classification:
"Effect of ageing on lees and distillation process on fermented sugarcane molasses for the production of rum."
Read about how A-TEEM spectroscopy and multivariate analysis can identify major components of beer and how these methods may serve as real-time monitors for key components including amino acids, phenolic compounds, iso-a-acid and vitamin B among others:
"Substances in beer that cause fluorescence: evaluating the qualitative and quantitative determination of these ingredients."
Read about how the A-TEEM can accurately discriminate and authenticate teas by brick-type and brand:
"Excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy coupled with chemometric methods for characterization and authentication of Anhua brick tea"
A Simple, Fast, “Column Free” Molecular Fingerprinting Technology
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