Wine Tasting Technology

2010: It seems like a date out of a science-fiction story--or, in reality, a Stanley Kubrick movie. Once upon a time, the year we now find ourselves kicking off seemed so far off and futuristic that it was almost impossible to imagine what it held in store.

Which is why my first post of 2010 is about--what else?!--a machine that can actually taste a wine and perceive its vintage and constituent grape varieties. Not that this will ever replace the supremacy of the human palate in matters of taste, of course. But it may, as the news story below points out, prove useful when it comes to determining whether a bottle purchased, say, at auction, is actually what it’s supposed to be and not a fake. It’s fascinating technology, and a real indication of how far we’ve come in the world of wine.