16.07.2015 | Lumex Instruments offers a new method for the determination of optical isoforms of tartaric and malic acids in wines, wine materials and food additives

DETERMINATION OF D- AND L- ISOMERS OF TARTARIC AND MALIC ACIDS IN WINES, WINE MATERIALS AND FOOD ADDITIVES.

The task has come from some European oenological labs and customs, where they have been meeting the increasing amount of falsified or technologically deviated wines. Sometimes it happens that for wine acidification unreliable wine producers use cheap racemic mixture of D-and L-isoforms instead of a pure L-isomer of tartaric acid, thus violating the strict prescription of International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).

To complicate the matter, some commercially available wine additives, declared to be a pure L-tartaric acid are actually racemic mixtures. Thus even some trusted wine producers can violate OIV prescriptions even without knowing this. It means that in many cases the wine additive must be also controlled, whether it is indeed a pure L-form or just a cheap racemic mixture.

Recently LUMEX analytical center has participated in еру inter-lab comparison test for D,L-isomers determination and we appeared to be within the best three labs for the accuracy of the results.

The capillary electrophoresis method for the determination of tartaric and malic acids isomers in wines, wine materials and food additives.