Six months ago, at an American Wine Society (AWS) Board of Directors
meeting someone brought in a magnet in a table top wine coaster and we
placed a bottle of wine in it for one hour and an identical bottle
sitting away from the coaster magnet. We opened each bottle an hour
later and it was amazing the difference in the same wine. The first
wine we did this with was a Chardonnay. The wine exposed to the
magnetic field had more aroma, softer taste and longer aftertaste. We
repeated this for a red wine with even more differences noted in the
softer taste. The bottom of the coaster holds a strong permanent magnet
and the cork contains a small, very weak magnet of the same polarity as
the magnet in the coaster.
On returning home I got two bar magnets, and strapped them onto each
side of the bottle. The polarity was such that without the bottle they
would come together, not repel as the coaster magnets. I repeated these
tests with several people in a blind tasting (i.e., they did not know
which wine was in the magnetic field).
I then started collecting data from large wine tasting groups where I
did a presentation and tasting of wines. In a group of 40, only one
could not tell the difference in the tastes between the wine that was
in the magnetic field and the one that was not in the field. He had a
severe cold. I repeated these tests four times at the seminar, using
different wines for each test. To avoid natural bottle variation, for
two of the tests, I bought a 1.5 liter bottle and put it into two 750
ml bottles and exposed one to the magnetic field for an hour and
compared the two. Again the results were that there was a difference in
the aroma, taste, and finish.
I went on to other seminars, the latest before a wine making group.
These results were the same. I am asked now to do a magnetic seminar
with tasting for the Pennsylvania Wine Association — there are now 85
wineries in Pennsylvania) in April at their annual conference. Next
November, I will be doing this same seminar at the AWS national
convention to be held at the Penn Stater.
I have a set of about eight of these commercial wine coaster magnets
from the distributor to insure that I have a reliable and stable
magnetic field for future tests and I can use the same data base. These
commercial magnets are available, but few buy them because they are
skeptics like me who reject a lot of foolhardy items like magnetic
strips for your shoes to repel gravity and make walking easier.
However, I cannot argue with the data I have gathered so far.
The next thing I want to investigate is whether the duration in the
field has much effect. That is, I will expose a wine for one hour, then
five hours, 24 hours, and three days to see if there is a difference in
the tastes. Also, I want to vary the magnetic field intensity. I want
to measure also the residual effects (i.e., exposing the wine letting
it sit for a day to see if it reverts back in character). I would also
like to use a varying magnetic field produced with coils. There is much
more to be done.
Apparently, someone has noticed that magnetic fields can influence
aging of wine, but do not know how to market it. Softening tannins in
big red wine can make the wines drinkable now instead of waiting five
years, thus increasing the wineries cash flow. I want to try using
magnetic field influence during fermentation to see the effects.
Now having said all that, I must state that I was careful not to ask
which wine they preferred since that was very subjective and had little
to do with the noted differences. For example, with a Chardonnay, some
liked the magnetic influenced wine better because it was a softer
sipping wine, while others like the crisp bite wince it would
complement food better. You wouldn't want to use magnetic fields often
with a wine that is ready for drinking now, but it is more effective in
making preferable wine with big reds with harsh tannins.
