Computer Models Built for Wine

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

I’ve been watching some of my Frasier DVDs lately, and if any of you watched that show, you will recall that he and Niles are major wine snobs. Well, a Carnegie Mellon University professor is building computer models he hopes will eventually provide wines that always satisfy their taste buds.

Lorenz “Larry” Biegler, who teaches chemical engineering at the university, is working on mathematical formulas to automate the fermentation process, adjusting ingredients and conditions to ensure robust flavors and higher yields from grape harvests.

Scientists don’t fully understand the delicate mix of compounds that emerge during fermentation and why they create such pleasing sensations for wine drinkers. Biegler’s research focuses on yeast, which consumes sugar and produces alcohol.

“We would like to come up with a reasonably good model of how this yeast cell behaves … then control this fermentation process so we can make better-quality wines,” he said.

One company, Enologix, of Sonoma, Calif., takes juice samples from grapes, analyzes them and, using proprietary software, recommends how to make wines that please leading critics. Source: AP via Yahoo! News

We Say: Obviously Frasier and Niles don’t have to worry about competition from wine-tasting software, at least not yet, but this is an interesting exercise. Additionally, as the article says, there’s a lot of art to the making of wine so I’m not sure how successful this will be. But there might be a way to increase consistency of the wine-making process.