Column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection method for malic acid enantiomers in commercial wines

•Determination of the d- and l-malic acid content in commercial wines.•Malic acid enantiomers detected in wine samples by column-switching HPLC.•Clear chromatogram of d- and l-malic acid peaks in wine samples.•Beneficial for wine-brewing process or quality certification in the wine industry. Determination of malic acid (MA) in commercial drinks is imperative to assure the quality of taste and safety of the product to human health. In this study, a column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-fluorescence detection method was employed to determine the content of d- and l-MA in wines. The developed method successfully detected both MA enantiomers in several wines with a pre-column fluorescence derivatization procedure. Additionally, the present HPLC system provided sufficient data with a small sample quantity. Moreover, the d-MA peak was detected in the chromatogram of wine samples without acidulants. Thus, we believe that the proposed method would benefit the wine-brewing process and facilitate quality certification in the wine industry.