INSTANT WINE CONDITIONER

The present invention relates to devices for conditioning wine, especially aerating and cooling. It is particularly concerned with domestic or table-top devices for conditioning wine .

Wine drinking has grown considerably in popularity in the UK in recent years, so too has the perception that there are conditions of the wine which ameliorate its taste. White wine is usually best served chilled to a temperature between 6 ⁰ C and 9°C and red wine is best served aerated so that the tannins which give it a sharp taste are softened.

Commonly, people place their white wine in their refrigerator to chill it and aerate their red wine by decanting it into a decanter and/or leaving the bottle open for a period of up to an hour before drinking.

Unfortunately, domestic refrigerators are usually run at a temperature somewhat below the 6 ⁰ C, and the flavour of wine chilled to below this temperature tends to be obscured. The need to decant red wine has diminished as nowadays sediment in the wine is likely to have been removed before bottling.

Most importantly too, these common ways of conditioning are time consuming while it is now regarded as inconvenient to await their fulfilment, especially when, as is often the case, people are drinking their wine in small quantities and not finishing a bottle in one session.

The present invention provides devices for rapidly conditioning wine, in particular devices for conditioning wine whilst it is being poured.

According to a first aspect of the present invention a device for conditioning wine comprises a heat exchanger adapted to be placed in a freezer or the freezer compartment of a refrigerator, a heat exchanger surface adapted to maximise contact with a liquid flowing thereover, and ducting for feeding the liquid to the heat exchanger surface. The heat exchanger may comprise a body of a material with a large sensible heat capacity, for example a block of metal such as stainless steel or a phase change material such as

thermo-polymer gel. The heat exchanger surface is preferably exterior to the heat exchanger and is either rugose or labyrinthine channelled or both in order that fluid flow thereover is turbulent rather than laminar. There may be a plurality of such channels, in multi-helical array, though arrays in which there are changes in direction of the order of 90° serve to maximise the turbulence of the flow. The ducting is advantageously arranged as a housing to the heat exchanger and the heat exchanger surface whence the heat exchanger is removable and may be arranged to be transparent so that the passage of the wine can be observed, typically being made of polymethymethacrylate (Perspex) . The device is also preferably adapted for temporary fitment to the mouth of a bottle, perhaps by means of a hollow bung. An outer end of the device may be provided with a pouring device such as a spout or lip.

According to a second aspect of the invention a device for conditioning wine comprises duct means for directing wine onto the inner surface of a hollow cylinder in a rotary direction whereby the wine tends to spin on that surface and thus maximise contact thereof with air in the cylinder on the latter' s passage to replace wine in the bottle. This device may also be adapted for temporary fitment to a bottle, for example by means of a hollow bung. The duct means advantageously incorporates a double helix and, to be aesthetically pleasing, the cylinder may be transparent, being also made of polymethylmethacrylate.

The device according to the first and second aspects of the invention may be arranged to be a single composite device which reverts to being an aerator when the heat exchanger and possibly its heat exchanger surface and ducting are removed. Alternatively an aerator device and a chilling device may be arranged as a matching or interfitting pair, possibly for attachment one to another for example magnetically, to ornament a table rather as can the usual condiment set. Indeed such an ornamental set can also include a corkscrew device and a circumciser for cutting away the plastic or soft metal cap

normally covering the cork in the bottle. Whilst the devices may incorporate a lower closure to prevent dripping, ideally a tray is provided in the aesthetic context. Also a detachable cap may be provided covering the bung for dust exclusion and aesthetic appearance.

A conditioner device will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: -

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a wine conditioner set; Figure 2 is an exploded view of a chiller;

Figure 3 is a cutaway isometric view of a heat exchanger element; and

Figure 4 is an exploded view of an aerator.

The chiller device 20 illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 comprises a housing 21 adapted to contain a heat exchanger element 22 in the form of a freezer pack. In the exterior surface of the heat exchanger element is formed a double helix of grooves 23. The heat exchanger element 22 has a sealing cap 24. The housing 21 has a cap 25 adapted to direct wine into the grooves 23. Surrounding the upper part of the housing 21 is a connector 26 in which can be fitted a hollow bung 27. A base 28 has magnetic attachment means 29 for association with the housing 21 whereby the heat exchanger element can be retained therewithin. The connector 26 has a magnetic connector strip 30 through which there is an air inlet 31. The Figures show the devices to be tilted so that the side (right side as shewn) on which the housing 26 bears the magnetic strip 30 is the shorter and the plane of the base is not normal to the axis of the device. Thus the left side of the base 28 as shewn provides a pourer lip 32 and, in use, the air inlet 31 is uppermost.

To operate the device the heat exchanger element 22 will have been kept in a freezer or the freezer compartment of a refrigerator until needed. Thereupon it is removed from the freezer and placed inside the housing 21 and closed therein with the base 26. With the bung 27 fitted and inserted into the neck of a bottle of wine and the bottle upended wine flowing into a glass passes via the grooves 23 where it is cooled by the heat exchanger element 22. The grooves 23 merely encourage swirling of the wine whilst in fact it passes over the whole outer circumferential surface of the element 22.

Replacement air enters the housing 26 via the inlet 31 and thence flows into the bottle via the bung 27.

In one embodiment of this example the heat exchange element 22 is formed of aluminium and is 35mm in diameter and 85mm long. It has a wall thickness of 2mm wall thickness and contains 66 cubic centimetres of thermo-polymer gel. The grooves 23 are 2.5mm deep and wide and extend around the heat exchanger element 22 1.5 times. The whole device is 12.5cm long and 40mm in overall diameter. The housing 21 is formed of polymethylmethacrylate so that the user can observe the flow of wine therein. After the heat exchange element has been frozen in a domestic freezer for at least 2 hours, the device has been shewn capable of reducing the temperature of wine flowing therethrough from 22° down to 6° to 9°, thus reducing the energy in 125ml of wine by 8374 Joules. It can cool 125ml of wine (a glassful) in 20 seconds and a bottle of wine (750ml) over a 45 minute period.

The aerator device 40 shewn in Figures 1 and 4 has a cylindrical aerator body 41 with a seal 42. These fit into an upper manifold 43 adapted to hold a hollow bung 44. The aerator body 41 has a detachable base 45. The seal 42 carries passages 46 disposed to direct fluid onto an inner surface of the body 41 in a somewhat circumferential direction whereby the fluid is encouraged to swirl around that surface. There is a passageway in the base, body, seal and manifold arranged to permit the flow of air back into the bottle. The upper manifold 43 carries a magnetic strip 47 while the plane of the base 45 is offset from normal to the axis of the device so that a pourer lip 48 is formed by the base 45 on the left side as shewn. A magnetic insert 49 serves for attachment of the base 45 to the body 41.

In use of the aerator with the bung 44 firmly pushed into the neck of a bottle of wine, wine flows through the bung 44 and the manifold 43. At the cap 42 the wine is directed by the grooves 46 onto the inner surface of the body 41 en route to a glass and caused to swirl around this surface so as to

maximise contact with air upflowing through the body 41 and back into the bottle.

As with the housing 21 in the particular embodiment of the chiller the body 41 is made of polymethylmethacrylate to enable the user to observe the passage of the wine therethrough. The overall length of the aerator is 126mm and its diameter is 40mm.

Tests carried out with a group of people including a cross section of the target market achieved the observation that the apparatus improved the taste of wine poured therethrough to the same extent as would have been the case had the wine been standing in the glass for 30 minutes.

The magnetic strips 30 and 47 serve for the attachment of the two devices one to another, using also the magnetic inserts 29, 49, with the one device inverted in relation to the other.

The devices need not of course be right cylindrical or even cylindrical; one which is rectangular or some other shape in planform may lend itself to maximising the turbulent flow of the wine.