I’m always on the look out for new ways to explain wine that inspires people to look at wine differently and maybe choose to explore it further. I can’t say that I expected this introduction though:

“Wine is one of the most influential forms of biotechnology. …

The use of yeast to make fermented beverages such as wine is possibly the earliest form of biotechnology, according to Patrick McGovern, who has pioneered the use of biomolecular archaeology to reveal how wines were made as long ago as the Neolithic. This biotechnology has evolved a great deal since the earliest known vintages were fermented seven millennia ago in Hajji Firuz in the Zagros Mountains of Iran.” [read more here]

The New Scientist magazine has teamed up with local wine merchant The Colchester Wine Company, to create a tasting case for readers, and used great creativity to present the wine in manner relevant to the audience (although quite how many will really approach their next bottle as the outcome of a biomolecular science experiment, I’m not sure!)

By the way, if you are interested in this link, check out Jamie Goode’s excellent Wine Science book

Hats off to those involved, and do let me know how sales go!

Note: It is a little ironic of course if you consider the “WHO” headline on the New Scientist site itself of course:

Thanks to Bob Young (@SOCOACH) for the tip!

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