Would you drink a wine made with no grapes whatsoever?
A startup called Endless West in SF just unveiled a "molecular" Moscato, made only with water, ethanol, and synthetic chemical compounds that mimic the aromas, flavors, and textures of wine.
They create this wine by running samples of existing wines through mass spectrometry and gas chromatography. This tells them what molecules comprise these wines, though they then have to come up with the quantities of each and the "recipe" themselves.
So...why would you ever drink this? Endless West's main pitches are sustainability and prices - without the agricultural inputs, this wine has very little environmental impact and can be made more cheaply and quickly. The wine has zero pesticides or sulfites and requires 95% less water, 80% less land, and creates 45% fewer carbon emissions than traditional wines.
However, Endless West's long-term goal is being able to replicate any wine for posterity. In theory, this technology would allow them to replicate a Lafite Rothschild 1996 (assuming they can get beyond IP concerns). Their goal is to create an archive of the best vintages for future generations. They compare themselves to people digitizing music from the 1950s as a means of saving it forever.
Endless West launched their wine in tandem with a synthetic sake, and has already created a synthetic whiskey called Glyph. Glyph is available at major Bay Area spirits retailers, restaurants, and bars .
Would you try it?
A startup called Endless West in SF just unveiled a "molecular" Moscato, made only with water, ethanol, and synthetic chemical compounds that mimic the aromas, flavors, and textures of wine.
They create this wine by running samples of existing wines through mass spectrometry and gas chromatography. This tells them what molecules comprise these wines, though they then have to come up with the quantities of each and the "recipe" themselves.
So...why would you ever drink this? Endless West's main pitches are sustainability and prices - without the agricultural inputs, this wine has very little environmental impact and can be made more cheaply and quickly. The wine has zero pesticides or sulfites and requires 95% less water, 80% less land, and creates 45% fewer carbon emissions than traditional wines.
However, Endless West's long-term goal is being able to replicate any wine for posterity. In theory, this technology would allow them to replicate a Lafite Rothschild 1996 (assuming they can get beyond IP concerns). Their goal is to create an archive of the best vintages for future generations. They compare themselves to people digitizing music from the 1950s as a means of saving it forever.
Endless West launched their wine in tandem with a synthetic sake, and has already created a synthetic whiskey called Glyph. Glyph is available at major Bay Area spirits retailers, restaurants, and bars .
Would you try it?
Lauren, thanks for sharing this article! It is an interesting concept, although while reading about it I am conscious of balancing an academic curiosity about the business with a somewhat disdainful gut reaction. On the first point, it does seem like an idea that would gain traction in the current entrepreneurial and funding environment. With companies like Impossible Foods (fairly successfully) marketing a plant-based burger that “bleeds,” it is not unexpected that some tenacious scientists are exploring other parts of the food chain known to generate waste. The justification of reducing environmental impact certainly resonates. Despite the commitment of many grape growers – particularly individual farmers in less commercialized regions – to stewarding the land, there is an obviously major consumption of resources in grape production. Moreover, the use of pesticides, heavy machinery, and other unnatural processes by conglomerates also contribute to footprint of wine. In this regard, the goals of Endless west are admirable.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I struggle to accept that a lab-created product without any natural connection to grapes can be classified as “wine.” Although I dislike using the term “authentic” to qualitatively evaluate something in the world of food and wine, I could not help but scoff at CEO Alec Lee’s claim that: “Authenticity does not require a grape. Our product is just as authentic as any other product on the market. For every action a winemaker takes, there’s a corresponding action that we take.” He goes on to add that: “What people miss – this is a different expression. It looks different from what people are used to as to what is authentic. The concept of natural is an evolving concept.” Certainly the winemaking space has evolved over the centuries of its existence; but any winemaker from the last millennium would challenge the claim that the process from planting a rootstock to bottling a finished wine can be replicated in a lab. Moreover, the aspiration that the company could replicate any wine ever produced in its lab is hubristic at best, if not unethical. The agricultural and winemaking teams that produce some of the best wines in the word are comparable to history’s great artists; their legacy should be preserved, not cheapened by a lab that claims to replicate generations of knowledge in an inexpensive bottle.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/23/17703454/wine-whiskey-synthetic-climate-change-lab-made-ava-winery-endless-west
Lauren and Morgan - agree with the interesting points you raised. I would add two things to your above argument, Morgan:
ReplyDeleteDoesn't appeal to a greater good: In my mind, the reason Impossible Foods is so successful is not because it is solving a business problem but because it is solving a greater societal challenge - the degradation of the environment. Because meat so heavily contributes to carbon emissions, Impossible can appeal to the investor or consumer with that pitch. In the case of synthetic wine, they are simply aiming to reduce costs of an expensive industry. Yes, there is certainly some industrial waste from winemaking, but the scale would not allow that to be a selling point for customers. It seems to me like their goal is to innovate on cost - which I don't think will appeal to the end consumer. Maybe it would appeal to an investor initially, but if the end market is small (per the first point), that interest is squashed too.
Removes further innovation: I could not agree more with your comment that this cheapens the "authenticity" or "craft" of winemaking. The most powerful result in a world of all synthetic wines, in my mind, is that it would remove room for further innovation. If their goal is to replicate great wines, in a world of all-synthetic wines, where would they get their inspiration? Great winemakers make new and notable wines every year. In a world of both natural and synthetic wines, I cannot help but think that consumers will gravitate towards the new and acclaimed vs. the synthetic and replicated. Further, consumer taste profiles are known to change over time. Innovation in winemaking can only come from great grapes and patient, quality techniques, in my opinion.
While the positive environmental impact is notable with this product, I agree with Morgan that the hubristic notion that the company can one day replicate every wine is unethical and completely devalues multigenerational winemaking practices. I also worry about the implications of such a product, assuming it were to increase in market share, on both wine regions and the wine ecosystem altogether. Wineries, often run by families, may shut down given their easy dispensability. With a decrease in wineries, tourism to wine regions would significantly decline. As boomers fade away and Generation Z enters drinking age in an era where such synthetic products may become normalized, a lack of wine education may arise in addition to a lack of appreciation for the craft of winemaking. Dedicated wine enthusiasts who have amassed decades-old collections would see their bottles diminish in value as their histories become less compelling selling points or completely overlooked. Thus, in imagining a world where synthetic wine permeates the mainstream, I believe the costs to the industry, to winemakers, and to wine history would far outweigh the environmental benefits such a product may have, especially if winemakers pursue more sustainable farming efforts from now and slowly transform agricultural practices without fully abandoning tradition.
ReplyDeleteAll that being said, traditional agricultural output is difficult to gauge. As we have discussed in the course, bad climate or environmental disasters can devastate harvests and severely threaten output and profits. I wonder how this product would function as an imperfect substitute in years of bad harvest, and if wineries would be on board to collaborate with Endless West to replicate their wines as a backup for when traditional output is insufficient.