AI technology called“ e-tongue” has given wine buffs a good licking by detecting spoilage five times faster than humans can. Professor Carolyn Ross, who led the Washington State University study, said the e-tongue could help winemakers deal with problems sooner. Prof Ross said:“ It gives good information about the holistic quality of the wines,” but noted it should...

AI technology called “e-tongue” has given wine buffs a good licking by detecting spoilage five times faster than humans can.

The bot identified signs of micro-organisms on day seven in a Riesling stored for 42 days, while it took until day 35 for an panel of humans to notice a change in its aroma.

Professor Carolyn Ross, who led the Washington State University study, said the e-tongue could help winemakers deal with problems sooner.

She said: “If you ran a sample using the electronic tongue, we could learn after one week if there’s contamination or a wine fault problem, versus waiting up to four weeks running just sensory testing.”

When immersed in liquid, the e-tongue’s chemical sensors can “taste” by analysing for the presence of certain compounds.

The research team programmed the high-tech instrument to collect a “fingerprint” of wine that contains information helpful to winemakers.

Prof Ross said: “It gives good information about the holistic quality of the wines,” but noted it should complement rather than replace traditional methods of judging wine quality.

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