This new Jesus machine lets you turn water into wine

A new smartphone-operated winemaking device dubbed the Miracle Machine promises to allow users to turn water into wine at home, at the mere cost of fruit juice, over a fermentation period of just three days. Simply select the type of wine you'd like to make, add the right quantity of ingredients, and the machine will do the rest, claim the inventors. If you want a Cabernet Sauvignon with a "lively" character, the app will generate the recipe:

Typically, winemaking is a long process: Grapes must be grown, picked, and crushed, and then there are the primary and secondary fermentation processes. The fermentation process can last months, and for certain wines, up to 20 years.

The machine is expected to come with winemaking kits, which will contain grape concentrate, yeast, and other ingredients needed for various types of wines.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Of course, the real test is whether consumers like the product. I don't doubt that it's possible to chemically analyze expensive wines, and then create a machine that can recreate them from a recipe. Whether or not consumers will have enthusiasm for these reconstructions is quite another thing. If they can get that, then this new technology could really upend the drinks industry (and eventually, perhaps also the food industry).