They say don’t believe what you read in the papers, but now you can’t believe what’s in your glass either.
Fake wine is being manufactured en masse and, apparently, wine afficianados can’t even tell the difference.
These fake wines are manufactured in a lab in Denver by Integrated Beverage Group – a company started in 2015 by Ari Walker and Kevin Hicks whose sole purpose is to duplicate popular wines and sell them on to retailers at a much cheaper price.
By analysing particles that make up a wine in a lab, the team – which includes master sommeliers and chemists - can replicate the taste.
The team starts by bulk buying cheaper wines and mixing them together until they taste overwhelmingly similar to the wine they are trying to recreate, wine experts verify the taste before it’s bottled.
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So far these replica wines are sold in 49 American states, and the team has been able to match the key flavours and attributes of some of the most popular drinks on the market, such as Dom Pérignon and Chardonnay.
But there are some beverages that just can’t be copied – wines where all the grapes come from a specific vineyard for example.
‘The reason [we’re] so successful,’ co-founder Kevin Hicks told Wired journalist Bruce Schoenfeld, ‘Is that it tastes consistent, year after year, bottling after bottling. You know what you’re going to get, like Coca-Cola or Campbell’s soup.’
Bottoms up!