Synthetic Wine

M

MLipton

Mark Lipton
A startup "winery" named Ava Wines, is developing totally synthetic "wine" as detailed in this article. Their first offering is a Moscato that tasters describe as tasting like a pool shark (insert emoticon of choice here).

Your dutiful scientific liaison,
Mark Lipton

(who needs the MMR when you've got shit like this?)
 
originally posted by MLipton:
Synthetic WineA startup "winery" named Ava Wines, is developing totally synthetic "wine" as detailed in this article. Their first offering is a Moscato that tasters describe as tasting like a pool shark (insert emoticon of choice here).

Your dutiful scientific liaison,
Mark Lipton

(who needs the MMR when you've got shit like this?)
Click to expand...

The not so easy "trick" is figuring out what the key aroma molecules are. Most of the time they won't be so lucky to find one compounds responsible for one aroma (except maybe green pepper and methoxypyrazine). GC isn't going to give them the answer beyond perhaps making generic "plastic pool toy" wine - a lot of omission/reconstitution studies are necessary to pinpoint the combination of odorants that are really responsible for what they are considering "wine" flavor. And to do that across varieties - that's a tough task, given that the nonaromatic varieties have very similar GC fingerprints to one another.
 
originally posted by Greg Hirson:
originally posted by MLipton:
Synthetic WineA startup "winery" named Ava Wines, is developing totally synthetic "wine" as detailed in this article. Their first offering is a Moscato that tasters describe as tasting like a pool shark (insert emoticon of choice here).

Your dutiful scientific liaison,
Mark Lipton

(who needs the MMR when you've got shit like this?)
Click to expand...

The not so easy "trick" is figuring out what the key aroma molecules are. Most of the time they won't be so lucky to find one compounds responsible for one aroma (except maybe green pepper and methoxypyrazine). GC isn't going to give them the answer beyond perhaps making generic "plastic pool toy" wine - a lot of omission/reconstitution studies are necessary to pinpoint the combination of odorants that are really responsible for what they are considering "wine" flavor. And to do that across varieties - that's a tough task, given that the nonaromatic varieties have very similar GC fingerprints to one another.
Click to expand...

Absolutely true,, Greg. Anyone familiar with aroma kits like Le Nez du Vin understand the limitations of verisimilitude when trying to recreate a familiar odor. More familiarly perhaps is the lack of similarity in most artificial fruit flavors. Even a fresh raspberry is damn tough to get right.

On another note, 35 years ago I worked as a BS chemist at She'll Development!s Modesto Ag Chem operation. We would occasionally get a lab tech from Gallo and they'd tell stories of 30' tall ion exchange columns. They'd pass the newly fermented red wine down those columns to strip them of most flavorants, then titrate back in what they wanted to reproduce their desired GC profile for their "Port."

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Imitation moscato d'asti at 13% abv... the jokes write themselves.
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to be fair, they didn't say that. they said "varied to match original". that is about the one thing that i imagine is easiest for them to dial in.
 
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