Comparison of methods for measuring oxygen in the headspace of a bottle of wine

Abstract

This paper presents a protocol for the sampling of gases and the measurement of oxygen by the means of a polarographic probe after bottle corking. Analyses of certified standard gases were performed according to the standard protocol of the Office International de la Vigne et du Vin to characterize the polarographic probe and gas chromatography (GC) methods. Finally, analyses of bottles of wine were performed to compare the both methods, together with a method based on the measurement of dissolved oxygen before and after agitation of the bottle of wine.

The polarographic method displays greater sensitivity and a lower limit of quantification (LQ) than the GC method. Uncertainty was found to be 0.51 % with the probe method. Although the study showed that the results of the indirect method differed from those of the probe and GC methods, especially for high oxygen contents, it enables wine companies to measure oxygen in the wine and in the bottle headspace using the same apparatus.