New 'Winewizard' claims to age cheap plonk into fine wine in seconds
It doesn't turn water into wine but a new £50 device claims to make plonk far more palatable.
Winewizard emulates the ageing process in just a couple of seconds by flooding a glass of vino with millions of tiny bubbles.
The complexity of cheap reds, whites and roses and young vintages are all said to be transformed by the gadget, accentuating nuanced flavours and softening the tannin and acids that otherwise taint them.
Its inventor even claims it can reduce hangovers by removing the impurities that cause them.
The concept behind the device - from Michael Pritchard, who was made an MBE in 2013 for the LifeSaver bottle, which makes contaminated water safe to drink - is not a new one.
Winewizard emulates the ageing process in just a couple of seconds by flooding a glass of vino with millions of tiny bubbles
The concept behind the device - from Michael Pritchard, who was made an MBE in 2013 for the LifeSaver bottle, which makes contaminated water safe to drink - is not a new one
The complexity of cheap reds, whites and roses and young vintages are all said to be transformed by the gadget, accentuating nuanced flavours and softening the tannin and acids that otherwise taint them
But it is unusual in that it has won the backing of the country's leading college for sommeliers and winemakers.
Akshay Baboo, the professor of oenology and viticulture from Plumpton College in East Sussex, tested it on 30 wines from around the world in an unpaid six-month study and found their chemical ages had increased.
'We could not believe it at first but the results from our laboratory testing just don't lie. It's quite amazing. Now wines can be aged as if by years in seconds,' he said.
'This invention has the capacity to significantly improve the wine drinking experience of millions of ordinary people on a night in or out and those who don't have the time, money or cellar space to store wines for years to get the best out of them.'
Dmitri Perlutchi, head sommelier at the Gordon Ramsay Restaurants Group, added: 'I've tested these types of products before, so I was sceptical that it could make this much difference, but it's unmistakable.'
However, he told The Times it was 'not a panacea' as it 'can't make bad wine taste amazing'.
Mr Pritchard, 57, of Colchester, Essex, looked into the market after someone bought him a wine-aerating gadget which fell short of its claims.
He spent two years tinkering with his device, saying: 'It took hundreds of experiments to take air and reduce the oxygen to get the perfect mix.'
Winewizard 'ages' the wine by up to seven years by increasing its surface area up to 10,000 times, mimicking the effects of air that enters a bottle through its cork over years.
A 2020 Spanish Ribera del Duero underwent a decrease in condensed tannins from 52.74 milligrams per litre to 47.47 milligrams, making it 'the equivalent of a 2016 vintage'.
The invention can be used on up to 80 bottles of white and rose or 40 red before needing a refill cartridge, meaning a 175ml glass costs 12p for the former and 24p for the latter.
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