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There is no greater anguish for a wine collector than to spend thousands of dollars on a 50-year-old bottle of Bordeaux, only to have it taste like vinegar when it's opened.
But now a New Jersey real estate developer and wine enthusiast says he has found a way to guarantee wine drinkers will never taste sour grapes again.
Eugene Mulvihill has constructed a $50,000 Wine Scanner to determine the chemical composition of wine without opening the bottle.
"When you spend $1,000 you want the wine to be perfect," said Mulvihill. "You are spending more on the wine than the food, and you expect that to be fresh."
Developed with the help of scientists at the University of California at Davis, Mulvihill's Wine Scanner is based on the same magnetic resonance imaging technology used for medical scans.
Wine is a temperamental libation that can turn into vinegar if stored improperly. Direct sunlight, heat, a loose cork or any number of mishaps can lead to a failed investment and a bad taste in the mouth.
MRI technology can detect bad wine by analyzing the chemical compounds found in the drink. Bottles under investigation are placed inside a 6-foot, boiler-like cylinder, and radio waves are shot through them.
The compounds that make wine taste bad -- acetic acid, or vinegar, and acid aldehyde, another distasteful compound -- absorb radio waves at different rates than wine that's still good.
So if Mulvihill's Wine Scanner detects high concentrations of either compound, he knows the wine has gone bad.
Mulvihill said the device is sensitive enough to detect changes as small as a tenth of the spoilage limit -- a benchmark for bad compounds. It can also detect wine that is turning and should be enjoyed before it's too late.
"It's more sensitive than the human palate," said Mulvihill. "This is not a subjective thing, this is science. This is absolute. We can tell exactly how much acid aldehyde is in there with the MRI."
Mulvihill's prototype Wine Scanner -- built with off-the-shelf parts -- is currently installed at the Crystal Springs Country Club in New Jersey.
The technology was originally developed by Matt Augustine, a UC Davis chemist. Mulvihill bought a license from the school to commercialize the technology.
Mulvihill is trying to find the right business model. He's exploring several ideas, including selling machines to rich collectors, or offering a wine-testing service to restaurants and vintners.
"It's in the buyer's interest to check the wine for spoilage," said Joe Broz, a business partner of Mulvihill's.
The scanner could change the way wine is sold -- and save restaurants and vintners a lot of money.
Traditionally, every time a restaurant opens a bottle of wine, it is taking a gamble. It's only after the customer takes a sip and gives a satisfactory nod that a bottle is considered sold.
Mulvihill's Wine Scanner could do away with this practice by letting customers know if a bottle is spoiled, somewhat spoiled or pristine. It could also be of service to collectors, or to restaurants and auction houses that could charge higher prices by guaranteeing the wine is still fresh.
"At some point, serious collectors are going to demand that their wine be certified against spoilage before they buy it at auction," said Broz.
But for now, auction houses like Zachy's, an online wine auctioneer, are interested, but wary, of the new technology.
"It's a complex issue that would need a lot more studying before I would really feel comfortable using it," said Jeff Zachy, the company's president.
The scanner comes at a time of change in how wine is sold. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that wine lovers could purchase wine over the internet from out-of-state wineries.
The $21.6 billion industry has never been so competitive, and consumers of wine now have more reason than ever to be picky about quality.
"I just tested 30 bottles that were bought at auction and 12 were not perfect," said Mulvihill. "A lot of the wine out there is off. It's not good."
