Drip-free wine bottle unveiled

Scientists at Brandeis University in Massachusetts have developed a wine bottle that doesn’t drip when poured.

Can’t find your foil wine pourers? Don’t worry. Scientists have created a wine bottle with a diamond-cut groove below the lip that guarantees a drip-free pour. Constant bottle-neck wiping could be a thing of the past!

Glass is a hydrophilic material, in other words, water molecules are attracted to it. After studying slow motion videos, Dr Dan Perlman, the creator of the drip-free bottle, discovered that when poured, wine tends to curl backwards over the lip and run down the side of the bottle. The groove prevents this from happening – the wine can’t travel over it and instead falls straight into the waiting glass.

Dr Perlman, a biophysicist at Brandeis University and a keen oenophile, said that he “wanted to change the wine bottle itself.”

“I didn’t want there to be the additional cost or inconvenience of buying an accessory,” he added.

Working with engineer Dr Greg Widberg, Dr Perlman hit upon the ideal width (0.2cm) and depth (0.1cm) for the indentation to ensure a clean pour.

Wine enthusiasts have previously relied on foil pourers and other gadgets to protect their tablecloths.

In a statement, the university explained the new feature, “A droplet of wine that would otherwise run down the side of the bottle encounters the groove, but can’t traverse it. Instead, it immediately falls off the bottle into the glass along with the rest of the wine…for a drop of wine to make it across Perlman’s groove, it would have to travel up inside the groove against the force of gravity or have enough momentum to jump from one side of the groove to the other.”

Dr Perlman is a prolific inventor, holding over 100 patents and most recently developing coffee flour, an ingredient and nutritional supplement made from par-baked coffee beans.