Quantitative determination of potent flavor compounds in Burgundy Pinot noir wines using a stable isotope dilution assay

A specific experimental procedure suitable for the quantification of four esters recently identified in a wine of Vitis vinifera cv. Pinot Noir, ethyl dihydrocinnamate (A), ethyl cinnamate (B), methyl anthranilate (C), and ethyl anthranilate (D), was developed and applied to 33 Burgundy wines (calculated on three replicates). The method, involving a stable isotope dilution assay, allows the determination of concentrations from 0.05 mu g L-1, with a repeatability better than 10%. The mean, maximum, and minimum amounts found for the four esters were as follows (in mu g L-1): (A) 1.6, 3.2, 0.8; (B) 0.8, 1.6, 0.5; (C) 0.2, 0.6, 0.06; (D) 2.4, 4.8, 0.6. Differences between wines, according to their concentrations and the nature of the esters, were visualized by principal component analysis. An analysis of variance indicated that ethyl anthranilate was the most important for wine differentiation.