Chemical messages from an ancient buried bottle: metabolomics for wine archeochemistry.

Restoration works in the old Clunisian Saint-Vivant monastery in Burgundy revealed an unidentified wine bottle (SV1) dating between 1772 and 1860. Chemical evidence for SV1 origin and nature are presented here using non-targeted Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance analyses. The SV1 chemical diversity was compared to red wines (Pinot Noir) from the Romanée Saint Vivant appellation and from six different vintages spanning from 1915 to 2009. The close metabolomic signature between SV1 and Romanée Saint Vivant wines spoke in favor of a filiation between these wines, in particular considering the Pinot noir grape variety. A further statistical comparison with up to 77 Pinot noir wines from Burgundy and vintages from nearly all the 20th century, confirmed that SV1 must have been made more than one hundred years ago. The increasing number of detected high masses and of nitrogen containing compounds with the ageing of the wine was in accordance with known ageing mechanisms. Besides, resveratrol was shown here to be preserved for more than one hundred years in wine. For the first time, the age of an old unknown wine along with its grape variety have been assessed through non-targeted metabolomic analyses.

A three-thousand-year history of vegetation and human impact in Burgundy (France) reconstructed from pollen and non-pollen palynomophs analysis.

This article presents a 241 cm long sediment record documenting the vegetation history using pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs recovered from the Fénay marsh in Burgundy (Dijon area - France). The pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) record largely reflects intensive human influence (clearing, cultivation and grazing) on the surrounding area from the Late Bronze Age and Hallstatt period. La Tène period is marked by drier conditions and a substantial increase in Alnus. During the Gallo-Roman period, high values of Alnus decrease to the benefit of Quercus. In the Early Middle Ages (5th-10th C), the swamp becomes a temporary pond and Cerealia type and Secale are cultivated in this very open landscape. During the Late Middle Ages (13th-15th C), the temporary pond is transformed into a larger and deeper pond, used by the Cistercians for hydraulic power and perhaps as a hemp-retting pit. By the end of the 16th C, the pond had dried out and was used for the cultivation of cereal.