B.C. Researchers Test New Polyphenol Analysis

(W&V) - A team of researchers from the University of British Columbia at Okanagan recently developed and tested a new method for analyzing the polyphenolic content of wine. Completed in the spring of 2013, their work is currently available online prior to publication in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

Named “shotgun polyphenomics” by the researchers, this high-throughput analysis technique has been shown to provide details regarding the polyphenolic content of a wine, which could have multiple applications in the winery as well as in the advancement of wine research. According to Cédric Saucier, co-author of this research along with Adéline Delcambre, polyphenolic characteristics and “authenticity of [both] grape and wine would be the main targets.” Saucier said, “The strategy here is to have a snapshot fingerprint rather than to [identify] individual species.” (Saucier also announced in July the development of an alternative gelatin assay for tannin, see the July 17, 2013 article "British Columbia Winemakers Talk Tannin.")

Current methods for analyzing polyphenolics and the authenticity of wine come with drawbacks. Testing can be time consuming, expensive, and at times limited in distinguishing wine samples from one bottle or tank to the next.

Wine fraud is a potential concern for wineries that buy grapes and bulk wine from others as well as in the wine trade. With rare bottles of new wines reaching thousands of dollars and old vintages selling for tens of thousands, the incentive to create counterfeits is huge. Wineries, private collectors and auction houses alike have been implicated in wine fraud, which suggests a need for a quick and easy way to measure authenticity.

‘Shotgun polyphenomics’

Cedric Saucier and Adéline Delcambre named this process of identifying wine based on a snapshot of polyphenols in a sample “shotgun polyphenomics.” The suffix “omics” refers to the study of processes. The term “shotgun” represents the wide spray of shotgun pellets compared to the single-point impact of a rifle bullet. The researchers intended “shotgun polyphenomics” to indicate a fast, snapshot analysis of total polyphenol content.