Monday, March 22, 2010

Carbon Dating Reveals Vintage Fraud In Wines

Atomic bombs changed carbon content in grapes.
Credit: Wikimedia

From Cosmos:

WASHINGTON: Up to 5% of fine wines are not from the year the label indicates, according to Australian researchers who have carbon dated some top dollar wines.

The team of researchers think "vintage fraud" is widespread, and have come up with a test that uses radioactive carbon isotopes left in the atmosphere by atomic bomb tests last century and a method used to date prehistoric objects to determine what year a wine comes from - its vintage.

The test works by comparing the amount of carbon-12 and carbon-14 in grapes.

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