Identification Of A Red Wine Marker In Residues From A 13th Century Cellar

摘要

In 2007, archaeologists of the canton Baselland discovered the remains of a building from the late 13th century in Pratteln. These buildings were part of the medieval Meier yard (Latin: maior, local bailiff) belonging to the monastery St. Alban in Basel founded in 1083. Castings of timber beams in the floor of one cellar have been interpreted as supports for wine barrels. Puzzling red-brownish colorations in the floor of the neighboring cellar were postulated to be caused by red wine and to indicate the location of the wine press, respectively. To test this, we applied the highly specific and sensitive technique of MALDI-TOF/TOFrnmass spectrometry for the first time to screen for the red wine marker syringic acid in the colored floor samples.