Chemistry Sets and Better Wine

Start checking those labels, many winemakers are now dabbling with high-tech chemical analysis to streamline the wine making process and squeeze more money out of every grape. For now, this technology is primarily being used to make harvest decisions — but others are beginning to use onsite labs to tweak the grape juice while it ferments.

Harvest decisions historically have relied heavily on simply tasting the grape. Today some vinters are using a laboratory process called chromatography that chemically separates grape into its component parts, such as the molecules responsible for aroma, taste and feel. That analysis can be used to make the decision to harvest when these particular molecules reach their highest concentration levels.

The wine scientists aim to bring the same chemical analysis used in agra-chemical, oil refineries and pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities to make wine manufacturing more efficient, consistent and, of course, more profitable.