What if you could test a wine before even opening the bottle?
What if you could keep faulty bottles out of your collection?
What if you could guarantee only fault free wine left your winery?
What if you could single out counterfeit bottles of wine?
What if you could buy or bid on wine with confidence?
What if you could keep faulty bottles out of your stock?
What if you could describe your wine before even taking the cork out?
Non-invasive molecular fingerprinting – know what’s in the bottle without taking the cork out.
VeriVin is an innovative startup developing a unique non-invasive wine analyser. A spectroscopic wine connoisseur. A molecular sommelier. Wine analysis and tasting reimagined.
About Us
VeriVin is extending the capabilities of its already patented technology in order to non-invasively detect the presence and concentration of various molecular compounds in unopened bottles of wine – through the glass, without the need to take the cork out. This technology applies also to sparkling wine, fortified wine, and spirits.
In more general terms, VeriVin is working on the quantum-enhanced spectroscopic sensing of trace compounds in inaccessible complex liquids and the database of molecular ID tags that could be built as a result. This capability could have a truly disruptive impact on the wine industry and eventually be applicable in other fields.
The wine and spirits industry needs simple, rapid, and cost-effective techniques to objectively evaluate the composition and quality of wines and spirits. VeriVin’s technology allows for a screening tool which is not only simple and rapid, but is also non-invasive and can be used in-situ, without the need to extract a sample and send it to a lab.
This means that quantitative testing could be carried out on individual bottles before or after leaving the winery, or after long periods of ageing. VeriVin’s technology could easily be incorporated into a packaging line or it could be used as a stand-alone portable device.
VeriVin’s goal is to combine the art of physics and the science of wine to help winemakers, wholesalers, retailers, restauranteurs, and collectors demystify wine.
Our Technology & Applications
The principal application of VeriVin’s technology is in quality control, but it could also be used to characterise a bottle of wine in order to monitor its progress over time, compare it to other bottles, or even verify its authenticity, all without the need to open the bottle or extract a sample.
Non-invasive characterisation, fault testing, monitoring and authentication leading to a powerful database of molecular ID tags that will revolutionise the wine and sprits industry.
How does it work?
In simplest terms, VeriVin’s device works by shining light into a bottle of wine and then detecting the outgoing scattered light. This scattered light contains faint “optical fingerprints” of the different molecules present in the wine. By processing this light and using techniques from the field of quantum optics, it is possible to look for the fingerprint of a given molecule and spot its presence in the wine. An appropriate choice of light source and sophisticated adaptive optics allows the incident light to pass through the glass practically unobstructed.
To find out about our Innovate UK Quantum Technologies goverment grant click here.
Wine Faults
Unfortunately, some of the molecules that can occasionally be found in a bottle of wine impart unpleasant olfactory and gustatory characteristics. These negative characteristics are known as wine flaws, and are most often due to poor winemaking practices and bad storage conditions… Read More
Cork Taint
Cork taint is a term used to describe wine faults associated with the presence of certain organohalogen compounds which lend wine an off-putting mouldy smell and taste. These are probably the most infamous of wine faults, and also the most controversial… Read More
Counterfeit Wine
VeriVin’s technology will also pave the way for the discrimination of counterfeit wine, in bottle, with no need to take the cork out. This would involve a multi-component analysis to screen for anomalies which could indicate that the wine is not what is stated on the label… Read More
Wine Characteristics
Wine is an incredibly complex substance whose production is an equally complex process influenced not only by nature, but also by viticultural and winemaking practices. It is estimated that wine is composed of up to one thousand molecules, which, in concert, give each wine… Read More
Innovate UK Quantum Technologies Grant
We are delighted to announce that we have been offered a substantial quantum technologies government grant for a collaborative research project with the University of Oxford.
The aim of this project is to explore the use of Quantum-Enhanced Sensing Techniques to investigate the chemical decomposition of complex liquids in sealed containers. This will allow for the quality control and characterisation of liquid substances in a large variety of applications, ranging from testing and monitoring the production and long-term storage of beverages, to the analysis of liquids in health-care, chemicals and defence. You can read more about it on the Department of Physics webpage as well as in this press release.
