Assignment of the regional origin of cherry brandies by stable isotope analysis

K. H. Engel, R. Baudler, L. Adam, A. Rossmann, G. Versini, N. Christoph, C. Bauer-Christoph

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

The applicability of stable isotope analysis to assign the geographic origin of distilled beverages has been investigated using Schwarzwälder Kirsch", i.e., a cherry brandy from the Black Forest area in Germany, as an example. Isotope ratios were determined in authentic cherry mashes as well as in cherry brandies provided by distillers from specified locations. Analysis of distillate fractions revealed that distillations in a pot still proceed with vapor pressure isotope effects for the carbon and the hydrogen isotopologues of ethanol. It could be demonstrated that these isotope fractionations do not impair the applicability of stable isotope analysis for the authenticity assessment of cherry brandies. The first data sets from two vintages indicate that, in principle, an assignment of the origin of cherry brandies on the basis of stable isotope data is possible. However, multi-element analysis in combination with efficient statistical methods is required.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAuthentication of Food and Wine
EditorsSusan Ebeler, Gary Takeoka, Peter Winterhalter
Pages254-272
Number of pages19
StatePublished - 2007

Publication series

NameACS Symposium Series
Volume952
ISSN (Print)0097-6156

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