Chemical messages in 170-year-old champagne bottles from the Baltic Sea: Revealing tastes from the past

International audience; Archaeochemistry as the application of the most recent analytical techniques to ancient samples now provides an unprecedented understanding of human culture throughout history. In this paper, we report on a multiplatform analytical investigation of 170-y-old champagne bottles found in a shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, which provides insight into winemaking practices used at the time. Organic spectroscopy-based nontargeted metabolomics and metallomics give access to the detailed composition of these wines, revealing, for instance, unexpected chemical characteristics in terms of small ion, sugar, and acid contents as well as markers of barrel aging and Maill…

How subtle is the "terroir" effect? Chemistry-related signatures of two "climats de Bourgogne".

The chemical composition of grape berries is influenced by various environmental conditions often considered to be representative of a "terroir". If grapes from a given terroir are assumed to reflect this origin in their chemical compositions, the corresponding wine should also reflect it. The aim of this work was therefore to reveal the "terroir" expression within the chemodiversity of grapes and related wines, using ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry. Grapes and corresponding wines, from two distinct - though very proximate - terroirs of Burgundy were analyzed over three vintages (2010, 2011 and 2012). Ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry and ultra-high performan…

Water-extractable organic matter linked to soil physico-chemistry and microbiology at the regional scale

10 pages; International audience; A better understanding of the links between dissolved organic matter and biogeochemical processes in soil could help in evaluating global soil dynamics. To assess the effects of land cover and parental material on soil biogeochemistry, we studied 120 soil samples collected from various ecosystems in Burgundy, France. The potential solubility and aromaticity of dissolved organic matter was characterised by pressurised hot-water extraction of organic carbon (PH-WEOC). Soil physico-chemical characteristics (pH, texture, soil carbon and nitrogen) were measured, as was the δ13C signature both in soils and in PH-WEOC. We also determined bacterial and fungal abund…

Influence of regionality and maturation time on the chemical fingerprint of whisky.

International audience; Understanding the chemical composition of whisky and the impact of each step in the manufacturing process provides a basis for responding to the challenges of producing high quality spirits. In this study, the objective was to discriminate whiskies according to their geographical origin and authenticate the maturation time in cask based on the non-volatile profiles. The combination of FT-ICR-MS and chemometrics allowed the distinction of whiskies from four geographical origins in Scotland (Highlands, Lowlands, Speyside and Islay). Statistical modeling was also used to discriminate whiskies according to the maturation time in cask and reveal chemical markers associate…

Combined Nontargeted Analytical Methodologies for the Characterization of the Chemical Evolution of Bottled Wines

The chemodiversity of wines can reveal a metabologeography expression of cooperage oak wood

Wine chemical compositions, which result from a complex interplay between environmental factors, genetic factors, and viticultural practices, have mostly been studied using targeted analyses of selected families of metabolites. Detailed studies have particularly concerned volatile and polyphenolic compounds because of their acknowledged roles in the organoleptic and therapeutic properties. However, we show that an unprecedented chemical diversity of wine composition can be unraveled through a nontargeted approach by ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry, which provides an instantaneous image of complex interacting processes, not easily or possibly resolvable into their unambiguous individu…

"Omics-" for a mapping of grapevine response to elicitors and identification of induced resistance markers

SPEIPMINRAUBCNRS; "Omics-" for a mapping of grapevine response to elicitors and identification of induced resistance markers . 12. European Fondation for Plant Pathology (EFPP) & 10. French Society for Plant Pathology Conference ‘Deepen Knwoledge in Plant Pathology for Innovative Agro-Ecology’

Expressing forest origins in the chemical composition of cooperage oak woods and corresponding wines by using FTICR-MS.

A non-targeted, ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometric, direct analysis of oak-wood extracts from two species (Quercus robur L. and Quercus petraea Liebl.) from three French forests, and of a wine aged in barrels derived therefrom has been performed to identify families of metabolites that could discriminate both the species and the geographical origin of woods. From 12 T ultra-high-resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectra of wood extracts, hundreds of mass signals were identified as possible significant biomarkers of the two species, with phenolic and carbohydrate moieties leading the differentiation between Q. robur and Q. petraea, respectively, as corroborated …

Systems chemical analytics: introduction to the challenges of chemical complexity analysis

Understanding complex (bio/geo)systems is a pivotal challenge in modern sciences that fuels a constant development of modern analytical technology, finding innovative solutions to resolve and analyse. In this introductory paper to the Faraday Discussion "Challenges in the analysis of complex natural systems", we aim to present concepts of complexity, and complex chemistry in systems subjected to biotic and abiotic transformations, and introduce the analytical possibilities to disentangle chemical complexity into its elementary parts (i.e. compositional and structural resolution) as a global integrated approach termed systems chemical analytics.