Pouring wine without a spill has long been an issue. Rogue drops of wine have destroyed countless table cloths, suits, and dresses, but this problem may soon be a thing of the past.
As a steward at wine competitions, I prepared tens of thousands of 3-ounce to 4-ounce pours of wine for judging panels.
Later, as a judge at wine competitions, I was served thousands of glasses with droplets of wine on the outside, ready to stain my hands and clothing. (Not all stewards are as meticulous as I was about serving “drip-free” glasses.)
I’m not casting aspersions. Pouring wine without some of it dripping down the outside of the glass is tricky. Many of my fellow stewards… and a whole lot of restaurant sommeliers… wrap a towel around the neck of a bottle when pouring to catch those droplets.
I’ve seen and tried many pouring methods to eliminate the dripping problem, including giving the bottle a quick twist right at the end of the pour. For me, this has resulted in stains on my shirt as often as a drip-free pour. I don’t recommend it.
There also are various accessories on the market that can help with the problem but, of course, they come at a cost.
Now, a fascinating variation in pouring wine could be on the horizon, courtesy of a renowned inventor who has more than 100 patents and just happens to be a wine lover.
Meet Daniel Perlman, who has spent a lot of time studying this conundrum and developing what he believes is a solution for it.
As Lawrence Goodman reported on BrandeisNOW, Perlman’s idea is not to develop another accessory, but rather to change the design of the bottle itself.
After studying wine being poured in slow motion, and using his extensive scientific knowledge, he determined that the drips could be eliminated by adding a circular groove around the neck of the bottle just beneath the top. After much experimentation, he further determined that the ideal width of the groove is roughly 2 milliliters, and the ideal depth is roughly 1 milliliter.
Taking a look at the video above, you’ll see two bottles of wine being poured side-by-side — the one on the left with a standard bottle and standard spillage, and the one on the right with Perlman’s circular groove and no spillage.
Wine bottle “technology” hasn’t changed much in more than a century, with the main development being the introduction of the screwcap.
But if Daniel Perlman can interest enough bottle makers in his new design, this could be a game changer — for the wine industry, not to mention the dry cleaning industry.
