REAL LIFE NEWS: TURNING WATER INTO WINE
by Hazed
A start-up in San Francisco is trying to make wine without using grapes – just by combining flavour compounds and ethanol. “We can turn water into wine in 15 minutes,” they claim.
Ava Winery has been set up by Mardonn Chua and Alec Lee, who came up with the idea when they saw a very expensive bottle of wine on display which they knew they could never afford.
Chua started to experiment by combining ethanol with fruity flavour compounds. Early efforts were very nasty but after six months they came up with an experimental synthetic wine that they claim mimics the taste of a sparkling Italian wine.
Unfortunately, when New Scientist magazine visited the start-up and tried out the synthetic wine in a blind test, they found it unappealing.
So while synthetic wine may turn out to be a whole lot cheaper than the real stuff, it’s got a way to go before it can really replace the beautiful taste of a Chateau Margaux or a Pouilly Fume!
