Computers join quest for perfect wine

For as long as humanity has enjoyed drinking wine, it has been thinking about ways to make it taste better, usually with trial-and-error techniques from the selection of grape varieties through consideration of the terroir to the moment when the fruit is picked.

But now a scientist from Pittsburgh is using computer modelling to try to improve one of the most fundamental aspects of the winemaking process - fermentation. "We are asking what kind of performance we can get out of this," Lorenz Biegler of Carnegie Mellon University said. "We would like to come up with a reasonably good model of how this yeast cell behaves, then control this fermentation process so we can make better-quality wines."

Mr Biegler has been working with scientists and winemakersfrom Chile to try to see whether the development of computer modelling can have an impact on the end product. They are trying to solve the problem of stuck batches - those where fermentation has stalled, which means thattoo much residual sugar is left in the wine.

Much of the work is being carried out at an "aroma lab" at Pontifical Catholic University in Santiago where industry-sponsored researchers are trying to isolate the chemicals that produce desirable fragrances and flavours.

The aim was to make winemaking more efficient, consistent and profitable Mr Biegler said. Similar computerised systems are used at chemical plants, oil refineries and pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, he added.