August 11, 2008
Wine Taster Stimulates Tastebuds
Bernice Hurst, Managing Partner, Fine Food Network
Wine tasting has long been a sign, for some people, of their sophistication and skill in appreciating the finer things in life. Recognizing a particular grape or vintage, they may think, sets them apart from less discerning individuals and gives them a certain aura of superiority. Whether this is real or imagined is highly debatable. And just sometimes, the skill itself can be exaggerated. Possibly not for much longer, however, as scientists have come up with an electronic device that “can distinguish between grape varieties and vintages” according to a report in British newspaper, The Independent.
Although not quite ready for mass production, researchers are aiming to create a mechanical device that will be more reliable than the average human palate.
The story explains that the “e-tongue is based on an array of tiny synthetic membranes built onto a single silicon chip called a multisensor. Each membrane has a different sensitivity to the various chemical components that distinguish one grape variety from another and one wine vintage from the next.”
At this stage, the e-tongue can apparently differentiate four grape varieties – Airén, Chardonnay, Malvasia and Macabeu – and samples of the same wine belonging to the vintage years 2004 and 2005.
Cecilia Jiménez-Jorquera, of the Barcelona Institute of Microelectronics, says that the e-tongue also has potential for “quantitative prediction of several sample parameters.” The idea is that by extending the range of chemicals the e-tongue can distinguish, it will be able to identify substances or additives that could affect wine quality or indicate wine fraud.
Dr Jiménez-Joquera added that the principle imitates those of the human tongue’s sensitivity to five different tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, acidic and umami (savoury). So far, the e-tongue has been tested on nine samples of grape juice from the 2005 vintage and six from 2004. Seven months later it was re-tested on wines made from the four grape varieties from the two vintages, according to a study published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal The Analyst.
On a more serious note, machines are also being developed by no less an organization than NASA as well as others in the security industry to sniff out molecules from the air in order to improve explosive detection. But if wine aficionados are helped along the way, why would anyone complain?
Discussion Questions: How do you think the e-tongue technology would best be applied at retail? Is it likely to make consumers more discerning? If so, would that be a positive thing for wine sales?
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This is a lab concept that has no true application at retail. Duplicating anything human is difficult from an AI perspective, let alone the sense(s) of both taste and smell that are so intertwined and result in a very subjective, individual response.
While it would be a sad day when we have our actual physical wine tasting supplanted by a machine, the idea of matching a machine algorithm with a wine consumer’s actual taste preferences would be a killer app but only for some of the market.
Clearly the high end, hard core oenophiles would never trust a machine (if for no other reason than it takes the fun, art and alcohol out of it) but for a larger merchant with a lot of customer relationships, matching customer data with wine profiles would actually be great for the industry.
Wine can be intimidating for the less knowledgeable (look at the success of Yellow Tail!) and anything that would increase the likelihood of a successful and rewarding purchase should be considered.
If the technology was sophisticated enough to identify the percentage of each grape variety within a blend, it could be a neat tool for understanding more about how the vintner created a specific flavor profile.
It could also be an important tool for foreign wine regulators that dictate which varieties can be used in which type of wine (i.e. Italy and France). I’m sure they have lab tests, but this device sounds like it has the potential to be a faster alternative.
Will it effect wine sales? The only people who I can conceive of appreciating the benefits are the die-hard winos, the buying habits of whom are unlikely to change.
Good wine is whatever your enjoy and tastes good either alone or when paired with what you are eating. If you can read the label, you can tell which grapes have been used, the year the wine was produced and its alcoholic content. You don’t need a machine to do this for us. I have a hard time understanding how this computer chip will be a benefit to consumers.
I’m struggling to see how this would apply to retail at all. If I understand wine pricing correctly, it’s a combination of market pricing (this vintage is better than that vintage, so it costs more) and speculation (this should be a great vintage given soil, climate, etc.). I don’t think a serious wine drinker (or a pretentious one, for that matter), cares about a machine’s opinion–the joy of wine is in the individual tasting and the knowledge that one accumulates, not in a mechanical rating.
May this blasphemous demon never darken my wine shop’s door!
There is only one true judge of a vintage’s appeal–YOU. And the only true measure of its value is–how much would YOU pay for it. Robert Parker be damned.
The e-tongue will never replace the e-go.
When times are tough and bucks are few
Great e-tongue technology just won’t do.
I regularly taste test all wines I can,
Gaining knowledge of each variety’s elan.
Every proud vineyard tries to get a test.
Retailers price wines on who scores best.
I then choose a wine that pleases my palate
But have to modify that what fits my wal-let.
I can’t see this working in a wine establishment at all…the emotional component of wine is of so much more significance to most buyers. Please, just let humans be humans every now and then.
However, a slight twist in this technology might make it more useful in clothing stores, where upon a video scan of someone emerging from the change room it might finally answer truthfully that daunting question, “do these pants make me look fat?”
Just checking in from Wine Country, CA, to respond to a report in a British newspaper about a machine that proposes to replace the human palate in evaluating wine. My good buddy Charlie–we call him Two-Buck Chuck–is assisting with this comment. No, wait, I can’t repeat what Two-Buck had to say. Instead, we’ll just comment that we’re as tired of pretentious wine snobs as anyone. And, a system or technology that would put them in their place while helping to choose wine for personal consumption or cooking would be extremely appealing to us and all of our friends.
Yogi Berra is reported to have said “baseball is a art, not a scientist.” Perhaps this same twisted-yet-strangely-appropriate thought applies to wine. When working with Julia C., she always reminded me and others that “Wine is the only beverage that enhances the taste of food.” Give us a technology that measures a wine’s involvement with various types of food, and you’ll have our attention–mine and Two-Buck’s.
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This is a lab concept that has no true application at retail. Duplicating anything human is difficult from an AI perspective, let alone the sense(s) of both taste and smell that are so intertwined and result in a very subjective, individual response.
While it would be a sad day when we have our actual physical wine tasting supplanted by a machine, the idea of matching a machine algorithm with a wine consumer’s actual taste preferences would be a killer app but only for some of the market.
Clearly the high end, hard core oenophiles would never trust a machine (if for no other reason than it takes the fun, art and alcohol out of it) but for a larger merchant with a lot of customer relationships, matching customer data with wine profiles would actually be great for the industry.
Wine can be intimidating for the less knowledgeable (look at the success of Yellow Tail!) and anything that would increase the likelihood of a successful and rewarding purchase should be considered.
If the technology was sophisticated enough to identify the percentage of each grape variety within a blend, it could be a neat tool for understanding more about how the vintner created a specific flavor profile.
It could also be an important tool for foreign wine regulators that dictate which varieties can be used in which type of wine (i.e. Italy and France). I’m sure they have lab tests, but this device sounds like it has the potential to be a faster alternative.
Will it effect wine sales? The only people who I can conceive of appreciating the benefits are the die-hard winos, the buying habits of whom are unlikely to change.
Good wine is whatever your enjoy and tastes good either alone or when paired with what you are eating. If you can read the label, you can tell which grapes have been used, the year the wine was produced and its alcoholic content. You don’t need a machine to do this for us. I have a hard time understanding how this computer chip will be a benefit to consumers.
I’m struggling to see how this would apply to retail at all. If I understand wine pricing correctly, it’s a combination of market pricing (this vintage is better than that vintage, so it costs more) and speculation (this should be a great vintage given soil, climate, etc.). I don’t think a serious wine drinker (or a pretentious one, for that matter), cares about a machine’s opinion–the joy of wine is in the individual tasting and the knowledge that one accumulates, not in a mechanical rating.
May this blasphemous demon never darken my wine shop’s door!
There is only one true judge of a vintage’s appeal–YOU. And the only true measure of its value is–how much would YOU pay for it. Robert Parker be damned.
The e-tongue will never replace the e-go.
When times are tough and bucks are few
Great e-tongue technology just won’t do.
I regularly taste test all wines I can,
Gaining knowledge of each variety’s elan.
Every proud vineyard tries to get a test.
Retailers price wines on who scores best.
I then choose a wine that pleases my palate
But have to modify that what fits my wal-let.
I can’t see this working in a wine establishment at all…the emotional component of wine is of so much more significance to most buyers. Please, just let humans be humans every now and then.
However, a slight twist in this technology might make it more useful in clothing stores, where upon a video scan of someone emerging from the change room it might finally answer truthfully that daunting question, “do these pants make me look fat?”
Just checking in from Wine Country, CA, to respond to a report in a British newspaper about a machine that proposes to replace the human palate in evaluating wine. My good buddy Charlie–we call him Two-Buck Chuck–is assisting with this comment. No, wait, I can’t repeat what Two-Buck had to say. Instead, we’ll just comment that we’re as tired of pretentious wine snobs as anyone. And, a system or technology that would put them in their place while helping to choose wine for personal consumption or cooking would be extremely appealing to us and all of our friends.
Yogi Berra is reported to have said “baseball is a art, not a scientist.” Perhaps this same twisted-yet-strangely-appropriate thought applies to wine. When working with Julia C., she always reminded me and others that “Wine is the only beverage that enhances the taste of food.” Give us a technology that measures a wine’s involvement with various types of food, and you’ll have our attention–mine and Two-Buck’s.