06 Apr 2016 Kuvée puts the ‘smart’ into wine bottles

Out of California and following in the footsteps of several other such new technologies, the Kuvée allows individual choice, one glass at a time, while preserving the wine’s quality for weeks.

The system requires the buy-in and filling of wine by producers in proprietary aluminium canisters. These are then inserted into the Kuvée smart bottle that, made of a combination of glass, plastic and electronics, looks similar to a standard bottle of wine.

A preservation valve then pours the wine from the canister, through the smart bottle’s spout (cleanable), without allowing oxygen to enter and affect the rest of the bottle. You can then pop the canister out and swap for a new one (so you can have red and your partner can have white).

Once opened, each canister can stay fresh for weeks between drinks. But here’s where it gets smart: Kuvée incorporates a built-in touchscreen, Wi-Fi connectivity, sensors, and internal battery and, also using an embedded RFID chip on the canister, relays the history of the wine and also suggests food pairings.

What’s more it will give you serving tips, send personalised wine recommendations, and allow you to reorder directly from the device.

Although Kuvée is meant to keep bottles fresh for up to 30 days, it doesn’t address the wine’s potential reactivity with the aluminum canister. While the wine may still be drinkable, the taste can change over time.

“The aluminum package has a pouch inside,” the company says, “made from a multilayer film that we engineered to minimise oxygen’s impact on the wine once it is opened without negatively affecting the taste or aroma of the wine.

“Kuvée wines are bottled on the same bottling line as standard glass bottles, so our O2 intake during bottling is very low compared to boxed wines due to the limited headroom air of the filling process.

“This makes shelf life similar to a glass bottle, allowing us to work with wineries of all sizes and deliver wine just as the winery intended.”

Although Kuvée’s canisters aren’t reusable, they are made of recyclable aluminum, making them lighter and more compact than their glass counterparts.

The company has already partnered with several California wineries, with plans to expand the list of labels by the end of the year.

Kuvée’s wine canisters will be produced by the wineries themselves and sold for the same price as paid in stores.

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