Analysis of wine for acetaldehyde by gas chromatography

The concentration of acetaldehyde presence in various priced bottles, $3.00 - $25.00, of Sauvignon Blanc was studied to determine whether the price of the wine could be correlated with the concentration of acetaldehyde present in the wine. A direct injection technique for measuring acetaldehyde was developed using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. Direct injection of Sauvignon Blanc wine samples, some expensive and some not, that were produced by various wineries, did not detect the presence of acetaldehyde using this method. A correlation between the price of the wine and the quality could not be established because acetaldehyde was not detected in any of the samples.