Magnetic Therapy for Wine

[CarbonAgent]

Hello forum,

This morning (6/7/2006) in the Los Angeles Times they ran a lengthy article in the food section about a magnetic gadget that claims to transform your cheap, crappy wine into into a "rich and silky wine". The gadget, known as the BevWizard, is described as a powerful magnet that "can change the molecular structure of a wine's tannins." Now I'm not a scientist but my B.S. detector was going off after I read this. The article is still online as I am writing this. Since this is my first post however, I cannot post a link. I'd be interested to hear what other people think about this.


-Charles

 

[Mycroft]

Hello forum,

This morning (6/7/2006) in the Los Angeles Times they ran a lengthy article in the food section about a magnetic gadget that claims to transform your cheap, crappy wine into into a "rich and silky wine". The gadget, known as the BevWizard, is described as a powerful magnet that "can change the molecular structure of a wine's tannins." Now I'm not a scientist but my B.S. detector was going off after I read this. The article is still online as I am writing this. Since this is my first post however, I cannot post a link. I'd be interested to hear what other people think about this.


-Charles

Was it a real article or a paid advertisement designed to look like an article?

 

[The Don]

This has been covered here many times (my connection speed here is cr@ppy so I cannot do the search), and it's utter garbage

Making and ageing wine is an expensive process. If cheap wine could be aged more rapidly using magnets the French, Spanish, Australian, Chilean etc. etc. winemakers would be doing it on an industrial scale.

 

[MRC_Hans]

This has been covered here many times (my connection speed here is cr@ppy so I cannot do the search), and it's utter garbage

Making and ageing wine is an expensive process. If cheap wine could be aged more rapidly using magnets the French, Spanish, Australian, Chilean etc. etc. winemakers would be doing it on an industrial scale.

AN excellent argument, except .... What if that's what they do ? What if your Appalation Controllee Grand Crù is really just cheap stuff treated with a magnet?

Seriously, that secret wouldn't stay secret for very long, obviously. So, I call fraud. I would not entirely rule out that magnetic treatment might have some effect on wine, but with the price of good magnets these days, wee'd see magnetic corks on supermarket wines, if there was any improvement in taste to get that way.

Hans

 

[Zep]

Some of our stuff tastes like they ground the magnets up and left them in it...

 

[The Don]

AN excellent argument, except .... What if that's what they do ? What if your Appalation Controllee Grand Crù is really just cheap stuff treated with a magnet?

Seriously, that secret wouldn't stay secret for very long, obviously. So, I call fraud. I would not entirely rule out that magnetic treatment might have some effect on wine, but with the price of good magnets these days, wee'd see magnetic corks on supermarket wines, if there was any improvement in taste to get that way.

Hans

I'm going to some wineries on Saturday, I shall take a compass and if the needle deflects, I'll call Shennanigans !!!

 

[Zep]

The Irish make wine??

 

[David Swidler]

Shouldn't this thread be in the Science forum (or perhaps General Skepticism, or perhaps even Religion...) etc.?

 

[Zep]

Yes, wine IS a religion. Treat it reverently!

 

[BPSCG]

Some of our stuff tastes like they ground the magnets up and left them in it...

And some of it is very, very good

 

[Psi Baba]

Some of our stuff tastes like they ground the magnets up and left them in it...

Ha!

WINE EXPERT:
A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Australian table wines. This is a pity as many fine Australian wines appeal not only to the Australian palate but also to the cognoscenti of Great Britain.

Black Stump Bordeaux is rightly praised as a peppermint flavoured Burgundy, whilst a good Sydney Syrup can rank with any of the world's best sugary wines.

Château Blue, too, has won many prizes; not least for its taste, and its lingering afterburn.

Old Smokey 1968 has been compared favourably to a Welsh claret, whilst the Australian Wino Society thoroughly recommends a 1970 Coq du Rod Laver, which, believe me, has a kick on it like a mule: 8 bottles of this and you're really finished. At the opening of the Sydney Bridge Club, they were fishing them out of the main sewers every half an hour.

Of the sparkling wines, the most famous is Perth Pink. This is a bottle with a message in, and the message is 'beware'. This is not a wine for drinking, this is a wine for laying down and avoiding.

Another good fighting wine is Melbourne Old-and-Yellow, which is particularly heavy and should be used only for hand-to-hand combat.

Quite the reverse is true of Château Chunder, which is an appellation contrôlée, specially grown for those keen on regurgitation; a fine wine which really opens up the sluices at both ends.

Real emetic fans will also go for a Hobart Muddy, and a prize winning Cuivre Reserve Château Bottled Nuit San Wogga Wogga, which has a bouquet like an aborigine's armpit.

I concur with BPSCG, though. I've had some good Australian wine (though I won't name them lest it turns out I'm liking the wrong ones!).

 

[Luke T.]

Hello forum,

This morning (6/7/2006) in the Los Angeles Times they ran a lengthy article in the food section about a magnetic gadget that claims to transform your cheap, crappy wine into into a "rich and silky wine". The gadget, known as the BevWizard, is described as a powerful magnet that "can change the molecular structure of a wine's tannins." Now I'm not a scientist but my B.S. detector was going off after I read this. The article is still online as I am writing this. Since this is my first post however, I cannot post a link. I'd be interested to hear what other people think about this.


-Charles

Poof! You're now a rich and silky wine

WISH your Two Buck Chuck were just a little smoother? Now, as crazy as it sounds, there's a simple pour-spout gizmo that claims to take the edge off cheap wine — with magnets. The gadget, available in wine shops and online for about $30, is making waves — and raising some eyebrows — in the wine world.

When you place the BevWizard, as inventor Patrick Farrell has named it, on the business end of a wine bottle and pour through it, the wine becomes rounder, softer and less tannic, as if by some miracle someone has taken a power sander and smoothed out the rough edges of the wine. In certain wines, the effect can be dramatic.

 

[Luke T.]

From the official BevWizard site:

Neodymium magnets create the powerful magnetic field that works the BevWizard’s magic. Magnetic treatment for beverages is not new; however, our method, which combines oxygenation and specially designed magnets is so unique it’s patented.

You will find the BevWizard very easy to use... it has no moving parts, requires no maintenance, is easily washed, and is very durable. Simply “plug” snugly into the bottle-neck and pour away! Only beverages poured through the BevWizard are altered; beverage remaining in the bottle remains unaltered.

How It Works

CAUTION: The BevWizard’s magnets are extremely strong, especially for their size. Therefore, please keep the device away from Pacemakers, Credit Cards, TV Sets, Computers, Monitors, Printers, Fax Machines, Floppy Disks and other Software, PLUS Cell Phones, Watches and other battery-powered devices!

 

[hgc]

Funny, but the molecular structure of tannins makes a difference. As certain good wines age, the tannin chains become longer. This means that there are fewer tannin chain end-points, called "elbows," to give that astringency feeling on the surfaces of your mouth. But this is far from the only thing that affects the taste of wine. And I have no idea how magnets would affect this.

 

[BPSCG]

If this isn't a perfect subject for a controlled, double-blind test, then there is no such thing.

With over a year of testing the BevWizard, many people have tasted hundreds of wines from around the globe and advocate trying our device on all oaked white wines, especially young wines. Chardonnay is the white variety most often oaked, though one may well encounter oaked versions of sauvignon blanc, semillon, viognier, and vermentino, among others. Heavily extracted reds, such as cabernet sauvignon, syrah, nebbiolo, sangiovese, grenache, tempranillo, and zinfandel, among many others, are often improved by the BevWizard, particularly if treated with oak. Such wines may come from California, Washington, Australia, Bordeaux, Rhone, Languedoc, Tuscanny, Piemonte, Spain, Portugal, Chile, Argentina and South Africa. Lighter reds such as pinot noir are also benefited, especially if from a cool vintage or if heavily oaked. Other emerging areas, such as Austria are using large amounts of oak in an attempt to obtain high scores from some critics, and are improved with the BevWizard.

Hmmm, nothing there about having done any double-blind tests. In fact, I don't see anything on the site at all about having done any. I wonder how they know for sure their product does what they claim... (wink, wink).

"Shenanigans" isn't the proper word for this. I'm thinking of another word that starts with "sh..."

 

[BPSCG]

I call more ******** on this. Their website says it's patented; I went to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website and the only mention I could find of the company is here. The overview (no, I'm not going to pay for a copy of the full patent application) describes it as "ornamental." Makes no claims about any functionality.

Edited by Locknar: 

While post predates rule 10 it has been recently quoted....edited to remain consistent.

 

[pgwenthold]

Funny, but the molecular structure of tannins makes a difference. As certain good wines age, the tannin chains become longer. This means that there are fewer tannin chain end-points, called "elbows," to give that astringency feeling on the surfaces of your mouth. But this is far from the only thing that affects the taste of wine. And I have no idea how magnets would affect this.

tannins are diamagnetic. That means _no_ response to magnetic fields at all.

Magnetism needs unpaired electrons. Tannins don't have them. Few purely organic molecules do, and those that do are generally too reactive to exist in a bottle of wine.

There are a few stable organic radicals, which are paramagnetic, meaning they respond to a magnetic field (kind of like how an iron nail will become magnetic when touching another magnet) but they aren't tannins. There are only a couple of examples of organic permanent magnets, but only at very, very low temperatures (less than 10 Kelvin).

 

[webfusion]

* hic *

tannins are diamagnetic. That means _no_ response to magnetic fields at all.

Magnetism needs unpaired electrons. Tannins don't have them. Few purely organic molecules do, and those that do are generally too reactive to exist in a bottle of wine.

There are a few stable organic radicals, which are paramagnetic, meaning they respond to a magnetic field (kind of like how an iron nail will become magnetic when touching another magnet) but they aren't tannins. There are only a couple of examples of organic permanent magnets, but only at very, very low temperatures (less than 10 Kelvin).

Will you please, please, stop confusing us with FACTS!

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/723819.html

 

[Luke T.]

If this device does anything, maybe it acts as a serendipitous filter that traps sediments as the wine passes through it.

 

[Mycroft]

If this device does anything, maybe it acts as a serendipitous filter that traps sediments as the wine passes through it.

I wonder if it's possible if it benefits the wine by acting as an aerator?