Have you ever wished you could cross your smartphone with a wine bottle? A start-up firm in the US says it has launched a wifi-enabled wine bottle. A Boston-based start-up firm has attempted to cross a smartphone with a wine bottle and the result is the interactive, wifi-enabled Kuvée bottle, which hit the market in the US this week. The wifi wine bottle is named Kuvée. Media commentators have been quick to deride the product, but its inventors say several wineries have signed up to supply the wines.

The cheapest version available to pre-order on 30 March was $199 for one Kuvée bottle plus four wines, sold with the caveat that the product was still ‘a work in progress’.

Kuvée claims that the advantages of its namesake product for the consumer include an interactive screen, via which they can rate the wine (out of five stars), learn more about the producer, check the temperature and find out what foods are best to eat with the wine. Kuvée also claims that its device keeps the wine fresh for 30 days, by preventing oxidation. Co-founder and CEO, Vijay Manwani, said winemakers would also have access to ratings given by consumers, and when the wine was drunk.

He said that he and his Master Sommelier, Michael Meagher, have signed up a number of Californian producers, ranging in price from $15 to $50, while Kuvée itself would normally cost $249.

In 2017, they plan to recruit European producers and the aim is to have about 100 wines on offer in total.

Source: http://www.decanter.com