A team from the Microelectronics Research and Development Centre in Barcelona, formed by Spanish and German researchers, has developed an electronic device capable not only of identifying the grape variety from which a wine is made, but also its vintage and around ten chemical elements. The device has been baptised with the name of ‘e-tongue’ and the results from the research paper have been published in the prestigious scientific magazine ‘The Analyst’ issued monthly by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in the United Kingdom.

The appliance works by using a series of multisensors which analyse results in relation to information on a database. To be more exact, there are six sensors integrated in a 5 cm2 microchip. The devise is able to measure sugar, acid and alcohol content, as well as other parameters which help to establish the wine’s vintage and variety.

According to Doctor Cecilia Jiménez-Jorquera, team co-ordinator, the device could be used to detect fraudulent wine but does not claim to be a substitute for the experienced palates of wine experts; it only hopes to be able to help those companies from the sector which have expressed an interest in the initiative.

The ‘e-tongue’ will allow the wine industry to carry out rapid quality controls in situ, consequently samples will not have to be sent off to await lengthy laboratory analysis, Doctor Jiménez-Jorquera and her colleagues from the Aachen University and Jülich Research Centre, confirmed.