Development of a Rapid Method for the Analysis of Ethanol in Wines Using Capillary Electrophoresis

Ethanol is routinely analyzed in wines for sensory and taxation purposes. A rapid method for the analysis of ethanol in wines using capillary electrophoresis (CE) was developed. Using the capillary electrophoresis technique of micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC), ethanol could be determined in wines with a per sample time of less than 5 minutes, including capillary flushing, sample injection and analysis time. Detection was accomplished by indirect UV photometry. The response was linear over a range of 5-30% (v/v) ethanol, with an average relative standard deviation of 1.38%. Glycerol and sugars did not interfere with this analysis. In a comparison with a GC method for ethanol analysis, the results for the two methods did not different significantly. This method offers the speed of the GC analysis and the versatility of CE, which can also be used for a number of other wine analyses.