High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of the riboflavin concentration in white wines for predicting their resistance to light

J Chromatogr A. 2000 Aug 4;888(1-2):121-7. doi: 10.1016/s0021-9673(00)00561-6.

Abstract

This research paper describes a new application in the field of quality control of white wine. A high-performance liquid chromatography analysis of riboflavin was used together with a simple sensorial test to produce a classification of wines, rating their susceptibility to exposure to light. Based on a wide survey covering 85 commercial white wines of different varieties in three countries (Italy, Spain and Slovenia), an average value of riboflavin of 98.63 microg/l with a rather high standard deviation of 41.91 microg/l, and a normal distribution was obtained. Our statistical study of the frequency distribution of the sensorial scores of light-exposed wines by means of the Expectation-Maximization algorithm demonstrated that a large majority (71%) of these products were susceptible to the light, 31% of them belonging to the most severely affected group. Content of riboflavin was correlated with severity of appearance of the off-flavor in light-exposed white wines. These methods are directly applicable in the quality control of wine, being a valuable aid for oenologists in choosing appropriate fining protocols to reduce the appearance of the undesired "sunlight flavor" in bottled products.

MeSH terms

  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / methods*
  • Light*
  • Quality Control
  • Riboflavin / analysis*
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence
  • Wine / analysis*

Substances

  • Riboflavin