How do you turn a bottle of cheap plonk into a fine vintage? (Image: Creativ Studio Heinemann / WestEnd61 / Rex Features)

MOST people have got one lying around somewhere: a bottle of cheap, nasty wine left over from a dinner party just waiting to be offloaded on someone else – or quaffed late one night when the good stuff has run out. But what if you could turn that bargain-basement plonk into fine wine in minutes? In these straitened times it could be just the thing a wine lover needs.

Traditionalists, of course, would insist that nothing can replace genuine quality plus long, slow ageing in an oak barrel and years of storage in cool, cobwebby cellars. But could there be a short cut?

Over the years, inventors have come up with dozens of widgets that they claim can transform the undrinkable or bring the finest wines to perfection without the long wait. Sadly, there’s little scientific evidence that most of them work (see “Faking it”). Looks like you’re stuck with the plonk.

Or are you? Fortunately, there is one technique that stands out from the rest. It is backed by a decade of research, the results have been published in a peer-reviewed journal and the end product has passed the ultimate test- blind tasting by a panel of wine experts. No fewer than five wineries have now invested in the technology.

The secret this time is an electric field. Pass an undrinkable, raw red wine between a set of high-voltage electrodes and it becomes pleasantly quaffable. “Using an electric field to accelerate ageing is a feasible way to …