Sunday, August 10, 2014

A Short Shift in Wine Marketing - Phthalates in French Wines

Info below, my only real addition to this post is the question: So, which vineyard is going to be the first to put "Phthalate-Free" on their next bottles?

Research Paper on Phthalates in Wine as Contaminants:
This research determines the concentrations of various phthalates in French wines and grape spirits marketed in Europe or intended for export. Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP)

P. Chatonnet, S. Boutou, A. Plana
Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A

The important bits:


  • While only 15% of the samples examined contained quantifiable concentrations (> 0.010 mg kg–1) of DEHP and BBP, 59% of the wines contained significant quantities of DBP
  • Only 17% of the samples did not contain any detectable quantity of at least one of the phthalates and 19% contained only non-quantifiable traces
  • According to the specific migration limits (SML) for materials in contact with food, slightly more than 11% of the wines analysed were non-compliant
  • A study of various materials frequently present in wineries revealed that a relatively large number of polymers sometimes contained high concentrations of phthalates. However, the epoxy resin coatings used on vats represented the major source of contamination.