Testing The Wine Clip

by Ken Greatorex

(Please note the Victorian Skeptics in no way endorse this advertisement and encourage readers to be wary of amazing claims)

On Thursday 4th November, I participated in a test of The Wine Clip.

Put simply, the Wine Clip is a collar of small cylindrical permanent magnets that are fastened over the neck of any bottle of wine whose contents you wish to improve. The manufacturers claim that the wine is improved merely by pouring it while the clip is in place. Advertising is liberally sprinkled with the endorsements of amazed wine clip users who are convinced of its efficacy.

This local test of the product was initiated by well-known Wine writer Max Allen.

The four-person tasting panel consisted of Max, a Food Scientist, a South Australian wine Sales and Marketing manager and me, representing Vic Skeptics. The test was conducted at William Angliss College in Melbourne by a lecturer in wine studies.

It was conducted on three wines, all dry reds. A triangular testing protocol was employed so that each wine was presented as three numbered samples, one of which had been poured using the wine clip. For each of the three wines, each taster was invited to nominate which of the three samples differed in taste from the other two.

The results appeared to indicate no discerneable benefit from the use of The Wine Clip.

It is possible that further testing will take place. Watch this space.

Max Allen's Report in his column in The Weekend Australian, December 2004

The claims on The Wine Clip's US web site sounded too good to be true. "Wine experts agree that The Wine Clip can enhance the taste of wine, making it smoother, less bitter and more refined. What once took years of aging now takes seconds." The clip, which you place around the neck of a bottle before pouring, comprises six 'rare earth magnets', which break down the 'large molecules' of (red) wine's 'impurities and tannins' into 'smaller molecules' as the wine passes through the magnetic field - and "the taste of many small molecules is smoother than the taste of fewer large molecules."

I just had to give this a go. So I paid my US$49.95 and a few days later my very own Wine Clip arrived all the way from New York. I gathered a crack team of tasters - a food scientist with extensive experience in flavour evaluation, a wine judge and an ex-science teacher - and we blind-tested the clip out on three wines: an under-$10 shiraz cabernet, a $30 pinot noir, and a $70 (very tannic) cabernet. A fourth person poured each wine in three glasses: two without the clip, the third through the magnets. The tasters were asked to see whether they could pick which wine was different - if at all. It was like being on Sesame Street (sing with me: "One of these things is not like the other ...").

So, does The Wine Clip, as one of its satisfied customers tells us on the web site, "make the most modestly priced bottle of wine taste like it's a smooth vintage classic."? The short answer is no. Only one of us - the food scientist - reckoned she tasted a slight but discernible difference in what turned out to be the magnetised example of two out of the three wines; the rest of us either saw no difference at all, or, if we did, found it in one of the un-magnetised glasses (go figure). Certainly no agreement, no dramatic changes, no conclusive proof.

And the moral? If you are tempted by one of the many gadgets out there promising to "soften your wine in seconds", think twice before splurging on one that uses magnets. Go, instead, for one that uses air - either one of those funnels that sprays the wine into your decanter as you pour, or one of the many gizmos available that bubble air through your wine. At least we know from experience that aeration does have a noticeable, pleasurable mellowing effect on a bottle of red.

Wine Clip

Testing The Wine Clip

Max Allen's Report in his column in The Weekend Australian, December 2004

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