Enrique Gili is a freelance writer covering Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (Scientists may have cracked the merlot code. But but don't hold your breath for that first bottle of "Double Helix Red." The announcement marked the first full accounting of a fruit's genetic material and revealed tantalizing information about the link between a grapevine's DNA and the aromas and flavors of its grapes.
Vintners are not exactly rejoicing over the prospect of science -enhanced varietals. After spending decades teaching consumers to savor familiar, often centuries-old grape varieties, wineries have little motivation to add an uncertain new variable to a crowded field of products.( Sac Bee)
Email this entry to a friend
View the Technorati Link Cosmos for this entry
Comments
This is probably a good excample as to how knowing the genetic code is only a small part in creating a product based on that knowledge. The strain of grape is only one aspect of the final product: the soil composition affect taste, as will the weather from year to year, not to mention the exat process of fermentation.
Testing the changes made in GM grapes would need to be planted alongside their heritage cousins, grown to maturity, then fermented before we could determine the effect of the chhanges made to potential flavor compounds.
Still, pretty neat stuff. :)
Posted by: left_Wing_Fox | August 29, 2007 12:34 PM
Yeah, I find Californian Merlot has too much tannin but Australian Jacob's Creek Merlot is fine. So much for the grape variety.
Posted by: Lab Cat | August 29, 2007 5:56 PM