Wine Creation Via Computer

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Dec 31st 2005 at 3:34PM

Would you trust the business of tasting wine to a computer? CNN has an article on how computer models may may help identify good wine and help winemakers create better vintages. Lorenz Biegler, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University has been working with industry scientists in Chile to create mathematical formulas that could automate the fermentation process. By figuring out how the yeast cell behaves they can determine how to replicate the process.The goal is to make winemaking more efficient and of course profitable. So far the research has been on white wines only. Reds are more complex and therefore difficult to analyze. Similar computerized systems are used at chemical plants, oil refineries and pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities but winemaking has always been seen as more of an art of craft than a science. It doesn't seem like a computer is going to take the place of a master vinter anytime soon but technology may have a greater role in winemaking in the future.

[via Slashdot]

Tags: chile, computers, grapes, red wine, science, white wine, wine, winemaking