Аннотация:A new method has been developed for the analysis, by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, of 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) and other chloroanisoles in cork-tainted wines, using a polydeuterated form of TCA as an internal standard. In a survey of wines presented at a wine assessment course, 4.8% (i.e. 18 bottles out of 374) were assessed by at least 20% of the participants as being affected by cork taint. TCA was present in each of these 18 wines at a concentration close to, or above the sensory detection threshold. All cases of taint seen by the participants could therefore be attributed, at least in part, to the presence of TCA, and this in turn could be attributed to the cork, since variation in apparent taint between bottles of the same wine was observed in every case. TCA was also found in the corks from the wines. Randomly selected bottles of wines considered to be affected by a high proportion of cork taint, and the corks from those bottles, were also analysed. There was considerable variation in the distribution of TCA and other chloroanisoles between wine and cork. In many cases, chloroanisoles were found only in the cork. TCA in corks was accompanied by varying amounts of 2,4– or 2,6-dichloroanisoles, 2,3,4,6-tetrachloroanisole and pentachloroanisole, indicating more than one origin for chloroanisoles in corks. No chloroanisoles, other than those derived by methylation of products formed by non-enzymatic chlorination of phenol, were detected in any of the samples.
