By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

I go back and forth on this one. As a wine lover, I think to myself, wow, what a great way to enjoy fine wine without going broke. As a skeptic I think, where’s the punchline, as in, “oh and the machine costs a mere $1,500,000.00. Read on and then tell me what you think:

Squirrelled away in his chemical engineering laboratory in rural Shizuoka, Hiroshi Tanaka has spent 15 years developing an electrolysis device that simulates, he claims, the effect of aging in wines. In 15 seconds it transforms the cheapest, youngest plonks into fine old draughts as fruit flavours are enhanced and rough edges are mellowed, he says.
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The machine works by pumping wine and tap water through a specially designed electrolysis chamber equipped with wafer-thin platinum electrodes. The water and wine are separated by an ion exchange membrane — the key component, for which Mr Tanaka holds the patent. Without diluting the wine, the electrolysis causes a rapid rearrangement of the hydrogen and oxygen atoms around the alcohol molecules, which would normally take place over years if the wine were ageing naturally. The electrolyser converts about 4litres of wine a minute. Source: The Australian