“We can turn water into wine in 15 minutes”  claims the Ava Winery, a San Francisco start-up that is making synthetic, grapeless wine by combining flavour compounds and ethanol.

Aside from the obvious question of “why?”  this tale of two imaginative bioengineering graduates bent on eschewing the traditional wine-making process via grapeless wine is an intriguing one.

Ava Winery’s goal is to mimic the taste of fine vintages.The San Francisco start-up, founded by Mardonn Chua and Alec Lee, began after a winery tour in California’s Napa Valley. The inspiration? A bottle of Chateau Montelena, famous for being the first Californian Chardonnay to beat French contenders at the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976.

“I was transfixed by this bottle displayed on the wall,” says Chua. “I could never afford a bottle like this, I could never enjoy it. That got me thinking.”

After 6-months of experimenting with a variety of combinations of amino acids, sugars, ethanol and other elements in an attempt to replicate the taste of authentic wine, the “wine” was created.   The result: an experimental synthetic wine modelled on the taste of the sparkling Italian Moscato d’Asti.

If at this point your brain is screaming “sacrilege!” there’s no need for alarm.  Early taste tests include notes of plastic bag…