Wine Technology of the Future: The Future is NOW! Launch of the TRIbella Kickstarter Campaign

“Wine Technology of the Future” is a series on The Academic Wino that features new inventions and patents that attempt to make your wine experience easier and more enjoyable.  Previously on this series, we’ve introduced the “self-aerating wine bottle”; the “corkscrew with integral intelligent thermometer”; “wine dispensing and preservation device”; “multi-stream wine aerating device”; the “wine bag carrier”, the “system and method for pairing food with wine”, the “lateral flow device for Botrytis cinerea detection”, and most recently the “wine bottle with permanent contact between the wine and the cork”.

What’s cool about this “Wine Technology of the Future” post is that I have been contacted by the creators of one of the devices listed above and have a prototype now in my hands to look over, review, and share with you all!

I was stoked when I heard from Katie Lei, daughter of the patent author, Skip Lei, a couple of months ago.  I had never expected to hear from any of the creators, let alone be offered a rare prototype of the invention to share with my readers!  This little series has now come full circle, it seems!

Wine Technology of the Future: The Future Is Now

It is with pleasure that I reacquaint you with US Patent 20120261844, otherwise originally known as the “Multi-Stream Wine Aerating Device”.

Here is an excerpt from my original post on this particular patent for a little refresher on what this device

is and does:

“The purpose of the “multi-stream aerating device” is really no different than all the other aerating and “breathing” devices in that it functions to increase the surface area of the wine in order to increase the wine-to-air ratio and allow the wine to breathe at a much faster rate than if it were just sitting in the bottle.  The difference between this device and all other aerating devices is in the way it achieves this goal.

The inventor describes the device as either being a stopper (think: cork-like), a screwed on device, or fitting onto the edge of a pour spout such as with bag-in-box wines.  Within the device, at least 3 tubes are embedded inside the stopper to allow wine to pass through multiple channels in a smooth fashion, and not by the “Venturi effect”.

By putting the device in/on the bottle of wine and then pouring the wine into your glass as if you were pouring the wine from the bottle without the device, the wine will split into 3 streams thereby increasing the surface area of the wine in order to maximize air contact and breathability.  Each of the tunnels is a uniform diameter in order to avoid the “Venturi effect”.

As an aside: the “Venturi effect” functions to pull a fluid from a larger tunnel through a smaller tunnel, resulting in a vortex-like motion and significant increase in fluid speed through the tunnels.  Some have found that this harsh movement on wine damaging some of the more delicate flavors and aroma on the wine.”

Here is a video describing TRIbella from creator Skip Lei:

Without further ado….the TRIbella in action!

Of course, it’d be tough to move things off the shelves with a name as long and involved as “Multi-Stream Wine Aerating Device”, so the new name for this soon-to-be-on-the-market device is the TRIbella.

So, how did the TRIbella do with my test wine?  Well, I have to say I am very impressed with this rather simple little device!  The pour was, as Skip Lei says himself, elegant! When I tipped the bottle up after I was finished pouring the glass, out of habit I twisted around the neck to make sure no drippings ran down the side.  Much to my surprise (or well, maybe not surprised considering the description of the device), there were absolutely no drips!  The way in which the TRIbella is designed such that air can exit back out through a little “outtake” valve on the side of the device, so that any potential drips at the end of the aerator get quickly sucked back in and not on your table or rug!

As far as the actual taste of the wine is concerned, I did notice a marked difference between the glass that I poured fresh out of the bottle versus the glass that I poured through the TRIbella.  Of course, I did this all by myself so the test was very much not blinded, however, the sensory differences between the two glasses were obvious.  The wine in the glass poured straight after opening the bottle seemed to have a much harsher nose and more “jagged” flavors, while the glass poured through the TRIbella had a much more delicate nose with many more of the flavors better integrated throughout the entire glass of wine.

I was hoping to make this my very first video review, but alas, due to my busy schedule I was not able to do that.  However, in the future (this fall, perhaps?), I do plan to do a mini “experiment” with the TRIbella and a group of friends to see how it performs among the masses.  That video will be markedly better than the practice video I made below.

See my “Ridiculously Low Budget, First Try, Doesn’t Count As My First Video” Video on how ridiculously easy it is to use the TRIbella (NOTE: NOT A SCIENTIFIC ANALYSIS—JUST A SIMPLE HOW-TO-USE CLIP):

(If you’re curious, the wine I used in this little test was the 2011 Festa di Bacco “Super Tuscan style blend” from Afton Mountain Vineyards in Afton, Virginia)

Of course, I can’t really do that experiment unless TRIbella gets enough funding to produce these devices on a larger scale!  I feel so lucky to have one of the first TRIbella prototypes in existence, and I am impressed enough with it that I feel each one of you deserves to have one as well.  In order to do that, TRIbella is raising some funds on Kickstarter and needs your help to reach their goal!

According to the folks at TRIbella:

“The money raised from this Kickstarter campaign will be used for the following: 
• Initial tooling costs that we are responsible for, including opening of molds for the aerator and hard case
• FDA testing
• A small, but reasonable inventory for our initial launch”

They are already well on their way to having this project funded, so why not help them out with a small

donation AND receive fun TRIbella gear at the same time?  Please check out their Kickstarter page here, you have until June 4^th, 2014 to make your pledge!

For more detailed info about the TRIbella, head over to their Kickstarter Campaign page and consider

giving a small donation to the cause.

Cheers!