It'd be easy enough to test its efficacy, if you have some
cooperative other party:

Take an unopened bottle of wine. Get your third party to pour two
glasses of the wine. Get your third party to treat the remainder of
the bottle. Get them to pour a third glass, keep track of which
glass is which, and present you with the three glasses. If you can
pick out the two identical glasses, then there's something like a
one in three chance that the thing actually does something.

For the more sophisticated verion of the test, get your third party
to find you a statistician, who can then tell you how many times
with how many wines you'd have to repeat the test before you could
get to a reasonable likelihood (like 95%, maybe) that the thing
actually does anything.

Dave

Njord ) wrote:
>A friend of mine bought one of these from our local beer/wine supplier. He
>maintained that it aged the wine. I poo pooed the idea. As I remember from
>the little science I had as a kid, magnetism affects only iron, steel,
>nickel, and cobalt (whatever that is) and maybe a couple of other things
>discovered since then. Well, he said the store proprietor swore by it
>personally and let my friend sample a glass before and after. He said he
>could taste the difference and bought one. My friend invited me over to
>conduct the same test. And, by golly, I could taste the difference, too. So,
>my wife bought me one for Christmas. And I still can taste the difference.
>BUT, I'm still skeptical. I strongly suspect that what my friend and I are
>experiencing is the placebo effect whereby one gets the result that one
>expects even if the agent supposedly causing the effect is really
>ineffective. Regardless, I guess if one tastes the difference (or thinks
>he/she does) and enjoys the wine that what matters.

>Anyone want to buy a Perfect Sommelier?

>--

>Njord

>"Lord, your sea is so big, and my boat is so small"

> Anonymous

>"Dar V" > wrote in message
...
>> We've had this discussion before - I wouldn't buy such a thing. Patience
>is
>> best.
>> Darlene
>>
>> "Vic Whirlwind" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > I recently went into a wine supply store, and the shop owner told me
>about
>> a
>> > new product that supposedly "ages" the wine in about 30 minutes. It
>costs
>> > about $40 and is made mostly of magnets. Has anybody here had any
>> > experience with such a device or know anything about it? If it would
>make
>> > it quicker to age my wines, I would be more than happy to pay for one.
>> > However, I do not want to fall for a gimmick designed to lure in
>> winemakers
>> > who can't bear to wait for wines to age.
>> >
>> > I would appreciate any help.
>> >
>> > Vic
>> >
>> >
>>
>>



--
Dave
************************************************** **************************
Dave Breeden