Wine
Integrity issues
There are three types of wine integrity issues :
- non-compliance with the regulatory reference standards (e.g. alcohol content, sugars, SO2).
- unpermitted addition of exogenous sugars in order to increase the alcoholic degree, water or exogenous compounds, such as flavours, glycerol, dyes, organic acids, sweeteners, and/or CO2 in order to improve the poor quality of the product.
- mislabelling with false declaration of origin and/or grape variety, vintage and/or wine category. The aim of this adulteration is to give premium price and value to products with low quality.
Potential threat to public health
In the very long history of wine fraud several adulterations have posed severe health risks and harm to consumers. In 1986, several cases of death and severe intoxications were reported after the consumption of Italian wine which contained high concentrations of methanol. Methanol, cheaper and free of tax compared to ethanol, was added intentionally in order to reach the former required minimum alcoholic degree for table wine with low-grade starting material.
To preserve Wine reputation and consumer health, monitor their integrity through analytical testing
Our expertise
Integrity & Authenticity testing of wine were at the origin of Eurofins. The first laboratory was founded in 1987 to market the SNIF-NMR® technology. This innovative solution has been recognized as an official method by the European Union and the OIV to control wine chaptalisation. Since several decades, Eurofins company continue to support the Wine sector, with the commitment to better serve you and to reply to all your issues with our very wide portfolio of testing.
Statistical review
FAIL assessment on Eurofins company report means that the product is not marketable according to:
- Regulations 1308/2013 and 33,34,934/2019 for wines
- Regulation 1169/2011 on labelling
- And/or any other legal definition or limits
- Labelling & specifications
Disclaimer: Non compliance rates presented here are global and may not reflect accurately the market situation in each country but they can be used as qualitative indications for major risks for on a worldwide basis
Figure 1 : Non compliance rates observed for wine samples analysed (all authenticity tests) between 2017 and 2021
Eurofins Network Offer
| Testing requests | Methods |
|---|---|
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Global integrity check, including composition, grape variety, geographical origin and vintage |
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Detection of chaptalisation, sweetening |
Stable Isotopes testing (SNIF-NMR and IRMS) |
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Detection of addition of water |
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Alcohol dectection (with control of the botanical origin), tartaric acid detection or addition of glycerol |
|
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Geographic origin and vintage check for wines |
|
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Checking the process used in sparkling wines |
|
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Control of wood barrel ageing |
Liquid Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) |
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Check the authenticity of volatile compounds (fruit & wood components) |
Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) |
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Identify and quantify the major and minor components such as alcohol content, dry extract, density, pH, sugars, gases, acids.. |
Composition analyses and NMR Profiling |
FLYERS
FOODINTEGRITY HANDBOOK
Eurofins is partner of FoodIntegrity Handbook, a useful companion written by nearly 50 experts in food authenticity
