Bev Wizard: can it make dodgy wine taste better?

It's hardly surprising that most cheap wine also has a pretty cheap taste, so if you're on a tight budget but are actually bothered about the taste of your three-quid bottle of wine (rather than just quaffing it on a Friday afternoon (hic) evening) - then Bev Wizard may be for you.

No, she's not the new barmaid at your local gastro-pub.

The Bev Wizard is, basically, a load of magnets that you stick around the neck of a bottle of wine. Its inventor, Patrick Farrell, says that it does very scientific things to the wine, making it taste fuller, smoother and fruitier.

Yeah right.

Well, he's a physician by training and is a master of wine (that's apparently a proper qualification from the London-based Institute of Masters of Wine) so he should know what he's talking about - despite the sceptics who think the only thing he's attracting is money from the gullible.

The science bit? Apparently these magnets affect the shape of the tannins in the wine, making them larger and softer, and making the wine 'age'. The effect is similar to pouring the wine and letting it breathe for a few hours before drinking. The device itself is a plastic-moulded affair with an air hole that intensifies the effect.

I'm wondering at a Blue Peter moment here, though the cost of getting magnets and sticking them together into a tube that still allows the wine to flow from the bottle to the glass might not be worth it.

All this could simply be wishful thinking, but at $30 (about £20) it could at least be a talking point at parties (if your parties are that boring they need a glorified wine pourer to focus conversation).

Not content with wine, Patrick is also developing the device for other beverages including coffee, tea and grapefruit juice.

I haven't got details on UK availability, but it's bound to be one of those gadgets that turns up on Firebox or somewhere (or eBay)

What do you reckon? You can't really improve cheap wine, can you?

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