Discuss “Professor makes model for less expensive wine”
Turning water into wine? Not quite, but a CMU professor may soon be able to create $500 flavor in a $10 bottle of newly-fermented wine.
Working in conjunction with the Pontifical Catholic University (PCU) in Santiago, Chile, chemical engineering professor Lorenz Biegler is currently modeling the yeast process using computers here at CMU. One possible byproduct of his research may be better-tasting, cheaper wine.
Biegler joined the project in 2002 when Dr. Ricardo Correa of PCU approached him for his help.
“He came to visit over the summer and told me about his work,” he said. “We started discussing optimization, and that’s how things started.
“Dr. Correa told me that some of the wineries in Santiago were having problems with fermentation,...
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Comments
Feb 08, 2006 at 07:37 AM
I agree and second Anon Winemaker's comments and further add...
High-prices for wine indicate "availability" or "rarity", NOT "quality." The difference in quality, as measured by perceptible flavor sensations, between a $5 bottle and a $50 bottle is much greater than that between $50 and $5000 bottles.
Yeast is a very minor player in determining wine flavor, compared with the influences of grape variety, vineyard geography and geology, and winemaking equipment and technique.
Far too much myth and rumor are used as the basis for commonly held beliefs about wine by the public (and by academics). The concept of wine is straightforward and simple: fermented grape juice. Understanding wine is far more complex, subtle, and intriguing (Thank God!).
Feb 07, 2006 at 02:44 PM
Wine becoming more fruity as it ages? Not so and quite the opposite. Bottle complexity leads to the development of secondary flavors and aromas which really aren't so fruity in nature.
The number of stuck fermentations cited may be a response to lack of effectiveness in good fermentation management, and complex mathematical modeling isn't really required to do a decent job in this area. Speaking as an academically and functionally trained winemaker, I'm not sure I really see any real value in this guy's research. It appears that there are often academics who are unfamiliar with winemaking that try to launch strange research projects in the name of improving wine quality.
Feb 07, 2006 at 12:09 PM
Just a quick correction: wineries in California do not add sugar (i.e., cane sugar) to fermenting grape juice. It's illegal to do so. However, this practice is allowed in France. Hope this helps.