Possibilities and limitations of wine authentication using stable isotope ratio analysis and traceability. Part 2: Wines from Hungary, Croatia and other European countries

Stable isotope ratio analysis of ethanol and water in authenitic Hungarian wines (1997 to 2001) and Croatian wines (1999 to 2001) was performed by SNIF-NMR (2H-NMR), δ 13C-, and δ 18O-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). The mean velues of the (D/H)I-ratio of ethanol in Hungarian wines are within a range of 100 to 101.3 ppm, more significant differences between the years were observed for (D/H)II-rations (124.9 to 128.4 ppm) and δ 13C-values (- 26 to - 27.9 ‰ V-PDB) of ethanol, and the δ 18O-values of wine water (- 2.4 to + 2.8 ‰ V-SMOW). In Croatian wines, most significant differences of all stable isotope rationsare detected between wines from the continental and the coastal regions. The influence of the extremely hot and dry climate in the year 2000 in the southern parts of Adriacic coast probalby had caused extreme δ 18O-values up to + 9 ‰ V-SMOW in water and δ 13C-values up to - 23.1 ‰ V-PDB, (D/H)I-ratios up to 107.8 ppm, and D/H)II-rations up to 134 ppm in ethanol. In 2001 relatively low D/H)II-values and δ 18O-values are found in single wine from the coastal region of Croatia, which were caused by regional high precipitation of up 190 mm within four weeks before grape harvest. By means of two wine samples from two european countries, the proof of adulterations by addition of water and chaptalization with mixture of C3- and C4-sugars is shown, using correlation of multielement stable isotope data from the EU Wine Databank and from commercial references as well as „ cut-of“ -values which are totally outside any natural range.