The month in drinks: ‘D-Vine intervention’ for wine

This month’s analysis of the latest product launches sees Euromonitor International’s Spiros Malandrakis look at a new way of serving wine that takes its cue from coffee.

The D-Vine device from 10-Vins (Photo: 10-Vins)

The disruptive force of rapid technological advancements and their impact on the ways that alcohol is consumed, recommended, matured or delivered is already providing intoxicating glimpses of future opportunities while reassessing centuries-old drinking rituals and taboos.

Pioneering software, controversial devices offering radical answers to questions of functionality and irreverent start-ups poignantly pushing the limits of experimentation are all breaking the mould.

But change does not happen overnight. Realigning notoriously conservative traditions deeply embedded in national heritage or popular culture is not a straightforward affair.

And yet, it is already upon us. From screw caps to bag-in-box and from flavoured infusions to peer-based recommendations, radically innovative developments have proven that, ultimately, corks, glass bottles, blending purists and specialist critics are not impervious to critical reassessment.

The wine category has historically been among the most adverse to change, weighted down by inherent elitism and navel gazing that stifled experimentation and made large swathes of its offerings inaccessible or downright mystifying. The introduction of Coravin – a device allowing pouring without removing the cork and in the process revolutionising wine by the glass offerings and on-trade propositions – has been the most recent game-changer in that respect.

Following its runaway and on-going success and parallel developments being embraced by rival categories, more such – once contentious – devices will find their way to markets and oenophiles around the world. While the trend is by no means short-lived and hacking alcohol will indeed revolutionise the industry in the medium term, cautionary tales and historical lessons should also be taken into account.

As Heineken‘s bombastic if largely failed launch of its designer home draught system back in 2013 proved, pricing and compatibility towards a wide variety of pods/torps/capsules (or lack thereof) will be the deciding factors making such launches revolutionary or gimmicky. Nestle’s

Nespresso might well provide some creative inspiration but alcohol is very different from coffee indeed.

D-Vine from 10-Vins

Showcased by 10-Vins at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, this most recent device borrows the idea from the fast-growing single-dose coffee machines such as Nestle’s Nespresso and US-based Keurig. The D-Vine machine delivers a single glass of wine with the correct aeration and temperature using capsules compatible with the device.

Each 10-centiliter (3.5-ounce) capsule is aerated to give it the same properties as if it had spent three hours in a carafe, Jarrousse noted. The machine can gently cool or warm the wine as needed. Selling several varieties of Burgundy and Bordeaux wines in its native France, D-Vine will offer American vintages for its US launch.

Each capsule retails for between €2 and €16 ($2.20 to $17.60) and the machine itself costs €499 ($550).