Grape-free wine developed in America

9th August, 2017 by Lucy Shaw

A grape-free wine made by cloning hundreds of the chemical compounds found in wine has been developed by scientists in a warehouse in San Francisco.

Josh Decolongon, one of the three founders of Ava Winery

Biochemists Alec Lee, Mardonn Chua and Josh Decolongon have created a synthetic Moscato d’Asti at their lab in the San Francisco borough of Dogpatch.

The team are currently working on a Pinot Noir, which, like the Moscato, is made from a combination of ethanol, water, sugar, amino acids and an array of chemical compounds that give a wine its taste, aroma and body.

When is a Moscato not a Moscato?

Among the compounds they’re working with are ethyl butyrate, which gives a pineapple aroma, sotolon, which….

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3 Responses to “Grape-free wine developed in America”

Tom Stevenson says:

August 9, 2017 at 1:57 pm

Easy on the sotolon guys! Check out the video of tasting the artificial and real Moscato here http://www.thegeniusworks.com/gamechanger/ava-winery/

At first I thought it was a set up, when even visually there appeared to be a marked difference and the guy on the left was able to discern its acidity on the nose!

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VANTAGE21 says:

August 9, 2017 at 2:48 pm

I’d love to taste a Pinot Noir that smells bell pepper!!!! That wil be a change!!! Beside, it is clear that a “wine” must come by law from grapes only

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Tom Stevenson says:

August 9, 2017 at 6:56 pm

VANTAGE21 is obviously too young to remember New Zealand reds in the 1980s when every variety including Pinot Noir had a distinct Bell Pepper aroma! Oh to be that young again …

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