Overview
This conference proceedings paper validates an ICP-MS method for chromium, arsenic, cadmium, nickel, mercury and lead in wine and low-alcohol beverages, using a synthetic 1% alcohol sample, and applies it to 13 Romanian wines. Table 3 gives one value per wine for each metal. Despite the title, no low-alcohol beverage or spirit samples were analyzed.
Key numbers
- Lead ranged from 1.98 µg/L (a semi-sweet white) to 47.38 µg/L (a semi-dry white Muscat) (Table 3).
- Cadmium ranged from 0.08 µg/L (a dry red Cabernet Sauvignon) to 1.42 µg/L (a semi-sweet white) (Table 3).
- Arsenic ranged from 0.29 to 12.2 µg/L (Table 3).
- Mercury was below detection in eight wines but reported at 200 µg/L in one semi-sweet white (Table 3).
Methods (brief)
Wines were diluted 10 to 20 times with ultrapure water and analyzed by quadrupole ICP-MS. Detection limits were 0.001 to 0.025 µg/L (Table 1). Accuracy was checked against a synthetic spiked sample at 2 µg/L (bias 0.8 to 17%); no certified wine reference material was used.
Evidence Fitness
One sample per wine, 13 wines, in a short proceedings paper. Lead and nickel values are identical in three rows, the lead expanded uncertainty (2.9 µg/L at 2 µg/L) is very large, and three mercury values are far above typical wine levels, so individual values need caution. Wine is a proxy for whiskey: it is fermented, not distilled, so it does not measure whiskey.