not that I have knowingly ever been a victim of wine fraud, nor could I explain in layman's terms how carbon dating is used to figure out the age of a given wine, but I thought this was fascinating and worth sharing. Great headline, too!:
http://www.beveragedaily.com/Markets/Atomic-bomb-testing-to-help-combat-wine-fraud
Atomic bomb testing to help combat wine fraud
By Guy Montague-Jones, 23-Mar-2010
Related topics: Markets
Australian scientists claim that atomic bomb testing has left traces of radioactive carbon in grapes that could help the wine industry combat fraud.
Atomic bomb testing from the late 1940s up to 1963 significantly increased the amount of carbon-14 (C-14) in the atmosphere. This radioactive carbon is absorbed by grape plants and eventually finds its way into wine itself.
Since atomic tests stopped in 1963, levels of C-14 have reduced relative carbon-12 (C-12) – a more stable and abundant form of carbon dioxide.
Lead researcher Graham Jones said: “When the tests stopped in 1963 a clock was set ticking — that of the dilution of this "bomb-pulse" C-14 by CO2 formed by the burning of fossil fuels.”
Pinpointing the vintage
Because of this dilution, scientists from the University of Adelaide, claim that by measuring the relative amounts of carbon-12 and carbon-14 in wine produced from the early 1960s, they are able to pinpoint the vintage of a wine.
The scientists tested the C-14 isotope ratio of 20 Australian red wines with vintages from 1958 and 1997 using an analytical device called an accelerator mass spectrometer. Comparing these measurements to the reactivity levels of known atmospheric samples, they found that the vintages of the wines could be reliably determined.Labels: carbon dating, food and wine pairing, wine fraud