If you’re anything like us, you enjoy drinking wine, but you don’t know a whole lot about it. Should you be one of the 99.9 percent of people out there who can’t bluff their way through a conversation about wine without feeling a bit of a fraud, a new smart device is here to help.
Called MyOeno, it’s a smart scanner that you dip into a glass of vino, and which will then feed you all the relevant information you need by sending it to your smartphone. Details that it can register include strength, tannins, acidity, evolution, and more. To this information, you can then add your own preferences in the form of tags — so that over time, you build up a more personalized database of your likes and dislikes, which will help you avoid wasting money on a bottle that you’re unlikely to enjoy.
Oh, and in case you’re worried, the sampling is done without chemicals, so there is no alteration to the wine itself!
“When I drink wine, no matter the name on the label or the price of the bottle, the main thing I’m looking for is pleasure,” co-founder Bastien Guillebastre told Digital Trends. “So I have to find wines which correspond to my taste. A touch of objective information will also help to secure choices.”
The technology is based on visible and near-visible spectrum analysis. Specific wavelengths are emitted by the device and, based on the absorption of each wavelength by the wine, the MyOeno algorithm is able to discern particular oenological (the science and study of wine) characteristics. Guillebastre notes that there are already sophisticated analytical tools, such as mass spectrometers, available on the market aimed at wine-making professionals — but that these tools are costly, laboratory-based, and often require damaging the sample.
If the idea of finding out a bit more about wine appeals to you, you can pre-order your MyOeno Wine Scanner on Kickstarter. Prices start at 69 euros ($81), with shipping set to take place by Christmas.
That is just in time for you to impress your friends and family with your newfound levels of wine sophistication!
