The US entrepreneur who says anyone can now make wine

 

 

Could a computer enable any one of us to make good wine at home? One Californian entrepreneur is convinced it can.

Greg Snell, 47, is the designer and manufacturer of an automated wine-making device he has called a WinePod. It is a steel cylinder, 1.2m (4ft) high, designed to produce about 48 bottles of red or white wine at a time.

Aimed at wealthy wine-making enthusiasts, it is something like a bread-maker, only for wine. And one that costs an eye-watering $4,500 (£2,800).

Once grapes are added, the device is linked to a personal computer, and software guides the user through the wine-making process.

Said to be the first of its kind, the machine automatically presses the grapes, you then wait a few months, and your finished wine is ready to be poured out.

Mr Snell says that despite his business having to close for four years along the way - as a result of the 2008 global financial crisis - he is now looking at a growing market for his invention, particularly in China.

As demand and interest in wine soars among the growing Chinese middle and upper classes, Mr Snell expects to sell "hundreds" of the WinePods in China next year.

And the Californian is far from alone, as other entrepreneurs are also both doing new things in relation to wine, and targeting China's big appetite for the drink.