The Chemistry of Wine | With John Manley

Join us for an engaging evening of wine tasting and scientific exploration — all to raise money for the charity Science Creates Outreach, increasing local young people's accessibility and engagement in STEM through immersive workshops.

Evening agenda

18:30 - 19:00 | Arrival
Doors are open and the venue bar will be open to purchase drinks.

19:00 - 19:15 | Welcome from Science Creates Outreach, with Charlie Proctor
Discover more about Science Creates Outreach, the charity's mission to empower the next generation of STEM innovators, leaders and entrepreneurs, and how your ticket is supporting its work.

19:15 - 20:15 | 'The Chemistry of Wine', with John Manley
Ever wondered what it takes for scientists to create a bottle of wine in a lab without using real grapes or fermentation techniques?

"Wines, quite unromantically, are a mixture of compounds (chemicals). So it should be possible to synthesize any wine by first getting the recipe – all the compounds and their amounts in that wine – and then mixing them all together to create a faithful copy of the original. This seems simple but it turns out to be immensely difficult, as synthetic wine startups have discovered."

Enjoy a guided wine tasting while John takes you through the complexities of creating synthetic wines, exploring varying molecular structures, spatial differences and key compound characteristics that are pretty much identical... until they come into contact with the human body and natural world where some extraordinary differences appear.

20:15 - 20:45 | Q&A with John
Want to know what it really takes to accurately replicate your favourite bottle? Curious how synthesising wines blends science, chemistry and creativity? This is your chance to put your questions to the expert.

21:00 | Finish

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About Science Creates Outreach (registered charity #1199986):
A registered STEM charity with a mission to demystify scientific careers, diversify the faces of science and empower confident problem-solvers to be our future scientists and engineers. Based in The Learning Lab at Science Creates Old Market, the charity offers behind-the-scenes tours of the on-site Deep Tech research labs, curriculum-linked hands-on workshops and conversations with STEM professionals — all to spark young people’s interest in science, innovation and entrepreneurship.

sciencecreates.co.uk/outreach/charity
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About Dr John Manley:
Dr John Manley is a Bristol alumnus in Chemistry (BSc and PhD) and supporter of Science Creates Outreach. John worked at HP Labs for almost 28 years, rising to become Laboratory Director for Cloud Computing. He was High Sheriff of the County and City of Bristol during 2020-21, and is a Visiting Professor at the University of the West of England. John's Chemistry of Wine event series combines his passions for wine and wine-making with discussion of the still far from completely understood relationship between wine and chemistry.
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Please note: Science Creates Old Market operates a Challenge 25 policy and reserves the right to ask for valid ID if are believed to be under the age of 18. The venue reserves the right to refuse service if you can't produce a valid ID.
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