How does it taste? “Honestly, it was so much better than some of those cheap bottles of wine that I’ve bought. Dare I say, even better than the Two-Buck Chuck from Trader Joe’s,” Murphy reported, referring to the bargain-priced Charles Shaw wine sold at the US grocery chain.

James Tidwell, a master sommelier and founder of TEXSOM International Wine Awards, sampled wine made with Murphy’s recipe for The Dallas Morning News. He commends it for the “nice red color” and the lack of “horsey aroma.” After one gulp, Tidwell noted the high alcohol content. “You accomplished getting some alcohol into it. That’s for sure,” he said, rather diplomatically. Tidwell had few words to describe the taste except that to say that it was “very grapey”.

Wine grapes.
Wine grapes.
Image: AP/Hussein Malla

Vintners probably need not worry that their industry is about to be disrupted by Instant Pot wine. For one thing, the right type of grape is crucial in wine making, and it’s not the one you’ll find in grape juice.

Most wine is made from vitis vinifera, which are carefully cultivated to produce complex flavors. Welch’s, on the other hand uses “sweeter and sassier” table grapes such as Concord and white Niagara, which are classified as vitis labrusca. Though some producers are experimenting with labrusca grapes to make dessert wines, their composition is best suited for fruit juices, jams, and jellies. Making wine from these grapes’ fermented juice results in the weird “foxy flavors,” that Tidwell describes.

Turning down a glass of Instant Pot wine doesn’t have to convey high snobbery. The fact is, there are many good, inexpensive wines made by discerning winemakers to be discovered. And as that old saying goes, “life is too short to drink bad wine.”

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