Alessandra Fabiani

Analysis of wine phenolics by high-performance liquid chromatography using a monolithic type column

A HPLC method involving direct injection was developed to determine phenolic compounds in wine. The separation was carried out on an RP C18 monolithic column using a binary gradient elution and diode array detection. In this way 17 monomeric compounds of different phenolic groups (hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids, hydroxycinnamyltartaric acids, flavanol, flavonol and stilbenes) could be separated and quantified in a single run and in a very short time.

Correlation between different clean-up methods and analytical techniques performances to detect Ochratoxin A in wine

Three different clean-up methods and two analytical techniques were compared to determine Ochratoxin A (OTA) in wines. The first clean-up used a MycoSep column, the second an immunoaffinity column (IAC) and the third consisted in a liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) using dichloromethane in acid conditions. Meanwhile, two different OTA determination techniques were also evaluated: a HPLC analysis using a fluorescence detector and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) method. Correlations between clean-up methods and analytical techniques to determine OTA in wine were made evaluating linearity, accuracy and precision. Both the two first clean-up methods (solid-phase extraction, SPE) showed a good linear fit (r(2)=about 0.9999), followed by LLE. The use of immunoaffinity columns showed the best recoveries, even if also the SPE with MycoSep showed good recoveries while the LLE recoveries were the worst ones. The HPLC analysis showed good precision and accuracy, while ELISA method, even with a sufficient linearity, generally underestimated OTA content in wines.

Impact of Wooden Barrel Storage on the Volatile Composition and Sensorial Profile of Red Wine

This study determined the influence of the kind of wood (Allier vs Limousin and Allier vs chestnut), the age (new vs 1 year old Allier oak barriques) and the volume (1000 L vs 225 L ) of Allier oak containers on sensorial profile and volatile composition of a red Sangiovese wine during 360 days of ageing. The greatest sensory differences were found between Allier oak wood and chestnut wood barriques. In chestnut barriques, wines were more fruited and tannic than in Allier where wines were less astringent, more vanilla flavoured and well-balanced. Some differences in chemical composition and sensorial profile were observed in wines aged in used containers with different capacities. The use of containers showed that migration phenomena from wood to wine were more intense in new barriques than in used ones. Therefore, wines aged in new barriques were richer in volatile wood compounds than wines aged in old barriques.