2-Methoxy-3-alkylpyrazines have been isolated for the first time from a Sauvignon blanc wine by using a combination of distillation or headspace sampling and trapping by an ion-exchange resin. 2-Methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine has been identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry as the major methoxypyrazine in a New Zealand Sauvignon blanc and, with the aid of 2-methoxy-d3-3-isobutylpyrazine as internal standard, its concentration has been determined as 35 ± 2 ppt. The method can be applied to small wine samples (< 60 ml) and detection limits are below the olfactory thresholds
