Chemical messages from an ancient buried bottle: metabolomics for wine archeochemistry

Restoration works in the old Clunisian Saint-Vivant monastery in Burgundy revealed an unidentified wine bottle (SV1) dating between 1772 and 1860. Chemical evidence for SV1 origin and nature are presented here using non-targeted Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance analyses. The SV1 chemical diversity was compared to red wines (Pinot Noir) from the Romanee Saint Vivant appellation and from six different vintages spanning from 1915 to 2009. The close metabolomic signature between SV1 and Romanee Saint Vivant wines spoke in favor of a filiation between these wines, in particular considering the Pinot noir grape variety. A further statistical comparison with up to 77 Pinot noir wines from Burgundy and vintages from nearly all the 20th century, confirmed that SV1 must have been made more than one hundred years ago. The increasing number of detected high masses and of nitrogen containing compounds with the ageing of the wine was in accordance with known ageing mechanisms. Besides, resveratrol was shown here to be preserved for more than one hundred years in wine. For the first time, the age of an old unknown wine along with its grape variety have been assessed through non-targeted metabolomic analyses. WINE ARCHEOCHEMISTRY: Identify an ancient wine via metabolomics analysesFor the first time, non-targeted metabolomics analyses were employed to assess the age of an unlabeled old wine together with its grape variety. Roullier-Gall at the Technische Universitat Munchen and coworkers from both Germany and France identified the metabolomics of unknown wine SV1 using high resolution FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry in combination with NMR. By comparing the metabolic signature of SV1 with the reference wines, it was found the SV1 wine was more than 100 years old and its grape variety was close to the Pinot Noir from the Romane'e Saint Vivant appellation. Moreover, this was the first time that resveratrol was observed in wines of more than one hundred years. This archeochemical method can serve as an alternative approach to the commonly used genetic-based techniques on the wine authentication.