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Title:
DECANTING WINE
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2011/133445
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
Systems and methods for decanting wine are provided. Wine from a source bottle is decanted into sample bottles in a chamber that is substantially free of oxygen. The wine is transferred such that the wine in the sample bottles remains unchanged or substantially unchanged from the wine in the source bottle.

Inventors:
BUCHER TIMOTHY (US)
GRACE JOHN A (US)
Application Number:
PCT/US2011/032833
Publication Date:
October 27, 2011
Filing Date:
April 18, 2011
Export Citation:
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Assignee:
TASTING ROOM INC (US)
BUCHER TIMOTHY (US)
GRACE JOHN A (US)
International Classes:
B65B3/04
Foreign References:
US20060283523A12006-12-21
US20050188651A12005-09-01
FR2784864A12000-04-28
US20050112024A12005-05-26
GB415451A1934-08-27
US20070210109A12007-09-13
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
ISRAELSEN, R., Burns et al. (1441 W. Ute Blvd. Suite 10, Park Citry UT, US)
Download PDF:
Claims:
CLAIMS

What is claimed is:

1. A method for decanting wine from a source bottle to sample bottles, the method comprising:

introducing a source bottle and sample bottles into a clean room chamber, the source bottle containing a wine and each of the sample bottles having a volume that is less than a volume of the source volume;

transferring the wine from the source bottle into the sample bottles; sealing the sample bottles inside the clean room chamber; and labeling the sample bottles to associate the wine in the sample bottles with the wine from the source bottle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the clean room chamber has an oxygen content of less than 0.5% by volume.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sealing each of the sample bottles with a cap configured to prevent the introduction of oxygen into an interior of each of the sample bottles.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising opening the source bottle inside the clean room chamber.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring the wine from the source bottle into the sample bottles with a filling station. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the filling station comprises a peristaltic pump and tubing.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising sealing the sample bottles such as a head room inside each of the sample bottles is filled substantially with nitrogen or other inert gas or combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring at least some of the wine into one or more testing bottles.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising performing tests on the wine in the one or more testing bottles inside the chamber, outside the chamber, or both.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising introducing the source bottle and the sample bottles through a first air lock to the chamber and removing the empty source bottle and the full sample bottles through a second air lock to the chamber.

11. A system for decanting wine into sample bottles, the system comprising: a first airlock;

a second airlock; and

a chamber connected with the first airlock and the second airlock, wherein a source bottle full of wine and empty sample bottles are introduced into the chamber through the first airlock and wherein an empty source bottle and full sample bottles are removed from the chamber through the second airlock, wherein the chamber includes:

an opening station configured to open the source bottle;

a filler station configured to transfer wine from the source bottle to the sample bottles; and

a capping station configured to seal the sample bottles after the sample bottles are filled with wine.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first airlock and the second airlock are smaller than the chamber and wherein air in the first airlock is evacuated and replaced with nitrogen and wherein nitrogen in the second airlock is exchanged for air.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the chamber maintains an oxygen of less than 0.5% by volume.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the filler station includes a peristaltic pump and tubing to transfer the wine from the source bottle to the sample bottles, wherein the tubing is auto-clavable.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the opening station is configured to remove a cap or a cork from the source bottle.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising a labeler to label the sample bottles such that the sample bottles are associated with the source bottle.

17. The system of claim 11, further comprising a cassette to hold the source bottle, the sample bottles, and a test panel, wherein at least one of the sample bottles is a testing bottle.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a testing station to conduct tests on the wine in the testing bottle, wherein the tests are performed inside the chamber and at least some of the tests are performed outside the chamber. 19. The system of claim 17, wherein the tubing comprises a filter to ensure precipitates in the wine are not transferred to the sample bottles.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the chamber is automated. 21. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the sample bottles is sealed with a cap configured to prevent oxygen from being introduced into the sample bottles and wherein a head space in each of the sample bottles is filled substantially with nitrogen. 22. A method for decanting wine, the method comprising:

introducing a source bottle of wine into a chamber that is near-zero oxygen;

introducing sample bottles into the chamber, wherein the sample bottles are empty;

opening the source bottle inside the chamber;

transferring the wine in the source bottle into the sample bottles; sealing at least some of the sample bottles; and removing the sample bottles from the chamber, wherein wine in the sealed sample bottles is unchanged from the wine in the source bottle.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein a head space in the sample bottles is filled with nitrogen prior to sealing.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein transferring the wine comprises pumping the wine into the sample bottles with a peristaltic pump.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising labeling the sample bottles to associate the sample bottles with the source bottle.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising testing the wine both inside the chamber and outside the chamber.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising testing the wine in at least one of the sample bottles after shipping the at least one of the sample bottles.

28. The method of claim 23, further comprising introducing the source bottle and introducing the sample bottles through an airlock, wherein an oxygen level inside the chamber is less than 0.5% by volume.

Description:
DECANTING WINE

BACKGROUND

Wine is made all over the world using different varieties of grapes grown in different conditions. The flavor, aroma, and other characteristics of a wine can be influenced by a wide variety of factors such as the soil and climate. In fact, many wineries use different methods or techniques to grow grapes and produce wine. These methods and techniques, in addition to the climate, soil, and other conditions, have an impact on the terroir.

Wine, particularly fine wine, is usually packaged in relatively large bottles. Packaging the wine in relatively large bottles has the advantage of protecting the wine from the effects of oxygen. Smaller- sized bottles, for example, suffer more from exposure to oxygen than larger bottles over a similar time period. This is particularly problematic with fine wines because oxygen can impact the taste of the wine over time.

One of the problems facing the wine industry is the ability to allow people to sample wines on a larger scale. A localized wine tasting event, for example, may allow those that attend to sample a particular wine from a larger bottle. All samples come from the same bottle(s) in this example. This allows potential customers to sample the wine and then purchase unopened bottles of the same wine. People unable to attend the event are unable to taste the wine prior to purchasing. If samples are sent to remote customers in smaller bottles, it is difficult to preserve the original taste of the wine because the wine is exposed to oxygen when packaged in the smaller bottles. By the time the bottles reach the potential customer, the taste of the wine may be affected.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for decanting wine.

Embodiments decant the wine from a source bottle to one or more sample bottles such that the wine in the sample bottles is the same as or substantially the same as the wine in the source bottle. The wine is decanted in a clean room chamber to prevent or minimize the introduction of oxygen to the wine during the decanting process.

In one example, a method for decanting wine includes introducing a source bottle and sample bottle into a clean room chamber. The source bottle contains a wine and each sample bottle has a volume that is less than a volume of the source volume. While in the clean room chamber, the wine is transferred from the source bottle into the sample bottles. Once filled, the sample bottles are sealed inside the clean room chamber. This insures that any headroom in the sample bottles is filled with nitrogen or other inert gas. The sample bottles are then labeled in order to associate the wine in the sample bottles with the wine from the source bottle.

In another embodiment, a system for decanting wine into sample bottles includes at least one airlock and a chamber. One or more source bottles are introduced into the chamber through the airlock. The chamber includes an opening station to open the source bottle, a filler station to transfer wine from the source bottle to the sample bottles, and a capper to seal the sample bottles.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The features and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and other features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above -recited and other advantages and features of the invention can be obtained, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows an illustrative example of a decanting process of wine from a source bottle to sample bottles such that the wine in the sample bottles is substantially unchanged from the wine in the source bottle;

Figure 2 shows an illustrative example of a clean room; and

Figure 3 illustrates a more detailed view of the clean room shown in Figure 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The process of decanting wine avoids disturbing sediment while pouring from one vessel to another. While this process is widely conducted when serving a bottle of wine, the process is considerably more difficult with smaller volumes of wine. While short term exposure to oxygen may considered necessary while decanting the wine, prolonged exposure to oxygen, as previously described, can adversely impact the taste of the wine.

Embodiments of the invention relate to transferring wine from a large bottle into smaller bottles (e.g., a 750ml (or larger) bottle into multiple 50ml bottles) in order to provide greater efficiency in reaching customers, distributers, and other target consumers of the wine (herein "customers"). This process supports the operating principle that 'nothing about the wine changes except the volume presented to the customer'. Embodiments of the invention enable remote customers to experience the wine as if the wine were first opened.

While the decanting process is described herein, embodiments of the invention also include the performance of a wide range of analytical chemical tests to ensure that the product shipped to the customer has no or minimal unexpected characteristics that would be cause for dissatisfaction. Some of these tests include, but are not limited to, TCA (cork taint), alcohol content, free S0 2 level, pH levels, and numerous other metrics about the liquid itself. All of these tests are typically done at a bottle-level granularity. These tests are conducted using state-of-the-art scientific equipment to ensure that the best possible product is provided to the customer and that the goal of nothing changing in the wine at the time of decanting is achieved by, for example, quantitative and sensory panel assessment.

Embodiments of the invention include systems and methods for decanting wines (including high value wines) from 750ml (or other volume) bottles into 50ml bottles (or other volume that is typically smaller than the source volume). The equipment utilized in the process is discussed as well as a winery approval process that attempts to outline the mechanisms used to provide access to collective data about the wines or about specific wines. A brief mention is made of regulatory aspects as they relate to the decanting process.

In order to continue the growth of the wine industry, and of higher-end wines in particular, greater access to wines must be provided and is achieved in accordance with embodiments of the invention. This access can be achieved, for example, by providing a sample of wine from a particular source or vintage (e.g., a 750ml or other size bottle of wine) in a smaller package or bottle (e.g., a 50 ml bottle) while not violating the precise nature of the source wine. Clean-room technology combined with medical and traditional winery equipment assembled in a unique manner are designed and engineered with this objective in mind. The systems and methods aim toward striving to achieve 'the perfect pour.'

Embodiments of the invention are described with respect to certain bottle sizes (e.g., 750 ml and 50 ml). One of skill in the art can appreciate, with the benefit of the present disclosure, that embodiments of the invention extend to other sizes and/or types of bottles. For example, source bottles of wine may be 375 ml, 750 ml, 1.5L, 3L, keg, barrel, etc., and sample sizes may include 50 ml, 100 ml, and 187 ml. The foregoing sizes of source bottles and sample bottles are provided by way of example only and not limitation. Thus, the source bottles of wine can be of any size and the sample bottles of wine can also be of any size, but the sample bottles are usually smaller than the corresponding source bottle size. The following description may describe certain bottle sizes by way of example only and not limitation.

The Decanting Process

Figure 1 shows an illustrative example of a decanting process 100 of wine from a source bottle to sample bottles such that the wine in the sample bottles is substantially unchanged from the wine in the source bottle. More generally, Figure 1 illustrates an illustrative process for transferring wine from a larger source bottle to smaller destination bottles while preserving the condition of the wine in the larger source bottle. Figure 1 illustrates a bottle 102 of wine that is ready to be distributed into smaller sample bottles 104 (loaded in a cassette 122 in this example).

The decanting process 100 of Figure 1 is intended to ensure that the wine distributed to the smaller bottles 104 remains in the same condition or in substantially the same condition as the wine remaining in the source bottle 102. Preserving the condition of the wine during transfer from the bottle 102 to the bottles 104 ensures that the smaller bottles 104 can be stored over time with no reduction of the quality of the wine in the smaller bottles 104. This enables a remote customer, for instance, to sample the wine in the bottle 102 as if the bottle 102 were just opened. Some embodiments of the disclosure ensure that when a person tastes the wine in one of the sample bottles 104, it is as if that person was tasting the wine in the source bottle 102. The decanting process disclosed herein ensures that the source bottle 102 of wine can be decanted successfully with no or minimal degradation, even over time as the smaller sample bottles 104 are shipped to their destinations. Advantageously, the process disclosed herein can enable wines, particularly high quality wines, to be sampled from remote locations as if at the winery by shipping a sample bottle containing wine from the source bottle 102. Embodiments of the invention allow remote purchasers to obtain sample bottles of wine that are identical or substantially identical to the source wine.

In one embodiment, the source bottle 102 and the sample bottles 104 are loaded in a cassette 122. In this example, the cassette 122 includes the source bottle 102 of wine, fourteen sample bottles, 104 and a test panel 108. This arrangement can vary according to the volume of the source bottle 102 and/or the volume of the sample bottles 104. In addition, some of the wine in the source bottle 102 may be placed in a fifteenth sample bottle for testing and/or quality assurance reasons. The number of sample bottles 104 in the cassette 122 is by way of example only. The number of sample bottles 104 and/or size of the sample bottles 104 used in the cassette 122 can vary and, in some instances, may be determined according to the size of the source bottle 102 of wine compared to the size of the sample bottles 104. In addition, the sample bottles 104 may be of different sizes and/or only partially filled. For instance, the wine from the source bottle 102 that is used for testing and/or quality assurance reasons may be placed in multiple bottles or vials that are smaller than the sample bottles 104.

In some examples, none of the wine is placed into a test bottle. Rather all of the wine is placed into the sample bottles 104. This may be done, for example, from a series of sample bottles from the same lot. A sample bottle from the lot may be used for testing purposes. The cassette 122 is usually barcoded with a barcode 106 or otherwise marked to provide a correlation between the source bottle 102 and the sample bottles 104. The sample bottles 104 may also be associated with the source bottle 102 using labels, barcodes, or other indicia. During transfer of the wine in the source bottle 102 to the sample bottles 104, the cassette 122 is placed in an air lock and the environment (e.g., the oxygen in the environment) is replaced with nitrogen. The cassette 122 is then moved from the air lock into a cleanroom chamber 110. Inside the cleanroom chamber 110, the source bottle 102 can be opened and the wine contained therein is distributed to the sample bottles 104 (e.g., poured). In this example, care may be taken to ensure that sediment in the wine in the source bottle 102 is not transferred to the sample bottles 104.

The sample bottles 104 can then be sealed with a seal 112 (e.g., a cap or cork or the like) inside the clean room chamber 110. As a result of being sealed in the clean room chamber 110, no or near-zero oxygen is present inside the sealed sample bottles 104. Instead, nitrogen is inside the sample bottles 104 in one example. Alternatively, other gasses may be used other than nitrogen or a combination of gasses may be used. Preferably, no oxygen or near-zero oxygen is present inside the sample bottles 104. This ensures that as the sample bottles 104 are shipped, the wine inside the sample bottles 104 does not degrade from exposure to oxygen.

Inside the chamber 110 of the clean room, tests can also be performed on any wine remaining the source bottle 102, or in the test bottle. These tests can thus reflect various characteristics of the wine as further described herein. Alternatively or in addition, the tests may be conducted outside of the chamber 110. As previously stated, the wine used for testing may be placed in multiple testing bottles/vials. This enables tests to be conducted both inside and/or outside of the chamber 110. For comparison, some tests may be conducted both inside and outside the chamber 110 to obtain comparative data. The sample bottles 104 are labeled (similarly to the source bottle 102 in one example to designate the source and/or vintage) with an appropriate barcode or other label and removed from the chamber 110 via an airlock. The sample bottles 104 can then be stored and later packed/shipped.

In one example, the sample bottles 104 are stored in a quarantine storage 116 until the tests are completed. Once the quarantine is completed, the sample bottles 104 can be stored for orders 118. Once the sample bottles 104 are ordered by a customer or other entity, the sample bottles 110 can be packaged and shipped 120.

The Clean Room

One of the greatest challenges to transferring the wine without changing its very essence is the environment within which it is transferred. Figure 1 illustrates that the wine may be transferred in a near-zero oxygen environment using the chamber 110. This environment uses both the inert gas, nitrogen, and high efficiency particulate filtration technology to create a class 100 level clean room (the chamber 110) which provides the environmental foundation for the process. To give some perspective, a class 100 environment is one that allows no more than 100 particles greater than .5μιη in size per cubic foot of air. This compares to approximately 1,000,000 particles greater than .5μιη in size for ordinary room air. This is by way of example only and other near-zero oxygen clean room environments may also be suitable.

This environment is obviously not one in which a human could operative unless equipped with a respirator. As such, the decanting process is conducted by accessing equipment through gloved or automated or other access. An initial example of this chamber is illustrated in Figure 2. Figure 2 shows an illustrative example of a clean room 200, which is an example of the chamber 110. The clean room 200 includes an airlock 202 and an airlock 206. The airlocks 202 and/or 204 can be used to move equipment and/or supplies into the chamber 204 without evacuating the entire chamber 200 or clean room 200. The airlock 202 may be for the input material (full source bottles and empty sample bottles) and the airlock 206 may be for the output material (empty source bottles and full sample bottles). Figure 2 also illustrates ports 208 (e.g., gloved ports) for access to the chamber 204.

For example, once the source bottle 102 and/or the sample bottles 104 and/or other materials are inside the airlock 202 and the airlock 202 has been evacuated of oxygen, the door 212 is opened and the materials are introduced into the chamber 204. Similarly, one the sample bottles are sealed and the appropriate tests have been conducted, the various materials are moved into the airlock 206 and the door 210 is sealed. The airlock 206 can then be opened to the environment. The size of the clean room 200 can vary according to various reasons. A custom chamber 204, for example, that is much larger may be used in order to accommodate the various pieces of equipment as well as the wine and various materials needed for decanting operations. The environment in the chamber 204 is usually operated at a level of approximately 0.5% oxygen by volume and may be typically continually monitored automatically by oxygen-level controllers and alarms.

Also present are dual fans (or more) for gas circulating to ensure that no eddy's form within the chamber as well as dual air filters. Other incidental equipment are shelving, racks and appropriate cleaning supplies.

Temperature control is another aspect of the overall environment and process. The decanting environment has a temperature of 60°F or about 60°F to provide an optimal environment for stability of the wine when decanting in the chamber 204. Another suitable temperature may be selected. This temperature may also be the target temperature for storage as well as shipping via insulated packaging with icing options. A packaging option will ensure a high level of temperature integrity.

In one embodiment, the chamber 204 may be large enough to accommodate one or more persons that are appropriately dressed to work inside a zero or near-zero oxygen environment.

Input Airlock

Input material such as empty 50ml bottles, full 750ml bottles, sterilized filling hoses, and other miscellaneous items are placed into the input airlock 202. Once the doors are closed on this air-tight airlock 202, a purging cycle is started which removes all oxygen and replaces the environment in the airlock 202 with 100% Nitrogen. Once the purge cycle is complete, a different interior door into the main chamber 204 is opened from the airlock 202, allowing the nitrogen-purged material to enter. This maintains a substantially 100% pure nitrogen environment in the main chamber 204. Bottle sparging is sometimes used in the wine industry, however this airlock input process goes far beyond a simple wine -industry sparging process as it creates not only an in-bottle nitrogen environment, but also a 100% nitrogen environment outside of the bottles.

The chamber 204 may include multiple stations that allow the wine to be transferred from the source bottle 102 to the sample bottles 104. The following discussion describes some of the stations that may occur in the chamber 204. The chamber 204 is therefore sized to accommodate the equipment necessary to distribute the wine. Figure 3 illustrates a more detailed view of the clean room 200 shown in Figure 2. In one embodiment, the systems and methods disclosed herein may be automated, or at least partially automated or manually operated or performed.

Opening Station

Once inside the chamber 204, the input bottles of wine enter the opening station 302 or are opened using the opening station 302. The opening station 302 resides at one end of the interior of the chamber 204 and is capable of removing natural or synthetic corks at a rate of over 500 bottles/hour in one example. Screw caps may be removed manually or automatically but also within the chamber 204. With the cork or cap removed, the bottle is exposed to very small percentages of oxygen by virtue of the size of the neck of the bottle as well as the oxygen content of the chamber. When the input bottles of wine include foil, removal of the foil may occur inside our outside of the chamber. In one example, nothing is removed from the bottles of wine outside of the chamber that would expose the wine to oxygen. Other preliminary preparations for opening or de-corking can occur outside the chamber as long as no oxygen is introduced into the bottle. Thus, the "seal" on the bottle of wine is typically broken in the near-zero oxygen environment. In other words, the source bottle is opened inside the chamber 204.

Filler Station

After opening the bottle in the opening station 302, the bottle is progressed along the decanting line to the filler station 304. The filler station 304 often includes a pump such as a peristaltic pump. Numerous other pumping technologies including gravity, positive pressure, and vacuum pumps may be used in embodiments of the invention. While these technologies are widely used for a variety of operations within the wine industry, the filler station 304 offers completely sanitary conditions between one source bottle and the next source bottle together with high change-out speeds. As such, silicone tubing (which is autoclave-able) may be used together with a highly accurate filler station 304 to decant from a source bottle 102 into sample bottles 104 (e.g., from one 750ml bottle into fourteen 50ml bottles and one or more test bottles). One end of the tubing used to transfer wine has a 50 micron (or other appropriate size) filter to ensure precipitates are not transferred to the sample bottles. Numerous tests have been conducted to assess the precision of the filler station 304, for example when including a peristaltic pump, which has found it to be ±0.2% accurate. Federal regulations for this size bottle require specify a fill accuracy of ±4.5% to accommodate manufacturing variances in bottles. Fill height variances are often masked with the use of colored neck sleeves. For example, a 750ml bottle is divisible by 50ml's fifteen times yet only fourteen samples are transferred. The balance of the bottle may be transferred to laboratory-type sample bottles for use in the chemistry analysis or quality assurance or the like. In another example, an optical sensor can be used to control the fill height. The sensor can be calibrated to existing conditions at the time of filling. The sensor can detect when the bottles are sufficiently filled.

Rotary Capper

The final procedure conducted inside the chamber 204 is the capping of the sample bottles 104. A Stelvin ® - type 18mm Roll-on Pilfer Proof (ROPP) cap may be used for this procedure in one embodiment. A machine or capping station 306 used to apply the cap has been calibrated and adjusted to ensure the appropriate torque is applied. Additionally, representative bottles are tested using a rotary torque tester and those data are compared against the cap supplier's data to ensure the cap is applied to within manufacturers specifications. The caps may have a specialized liner that prevents the transfer of oxygen and are specifically developed to protect wine. Alternative caps use, among other materials, expanded polyethylene (EPE) which permits the transfer of oxygen across the material when outside the chamber.

Testing Station

The chamber 204 may also include a testing station 308. The testing station 308 may perform at least some of the tests disclosed herein on wine that has been transferred into one of the sample bottles or into one or more testing bottles. Alternatively or in addition to, wine remaining in the source bottle, if any, may also be tested. As previously described the tests conducted in the chamber 204 may also be conducted outside of the chamber. Also, at least some of the same tests may be conducted on one of the sample bottles after some time has passed or after the sample bottle has undergone certain conditions (e.g., temperature fluctuations, geography changes by shipping the sample bottle from one place to another, etc.).

Output Airlock

The output airlock 206 works the same as the input airlock in terms of preserving environmental integrity of the main chamber. Output material from the chamber 204 includes the empty source bottle 102 (or multiple source bottles depending on the size and configuration of the clean room 200, full sample bottles 104, used filling tubes (used in conjunction with the filler station 304 to transfer wine from the source bottle to the sample bottles), and some additional miscellaneous material. At the output airlock 206, a reverse purge is performed bringing the output material from a 100% nitrogen environment to normal room conditions. Because the sample bottles 104 were sealed inside the chamber 104, any headspace inside the sample bottles 104 will be comprised of 100% nitrogen. Winery Approval

To ensure that the decanting process is as pure as possible, a list of tests, reports, and programs can be performed or selected to determine that the end product is being handled with the care and integrity demanded by sellers and/or customers. The tests can be conducted over time, in the chamber 204, outside of the chamber 204, or the like or combination thereof. One of skill in the art can appreciate that the following list is not exclusive and that the parameters of each test can be varied. The list of tests that may be performed may include one or more of:

Quantitative chemical assessment of compounds and their levels;

Access to the Method of Procedures used to conduct on-going chemical tests;

Access to the results of that data and any interpretational reports;

Results of packaging tests to establish the durability of the box enclosure;

Shipping tests to include hot and/or cold environments and geographical dispersion;

Access to report data assessing the results of packaging tests;

Bi-annual reviews to foster discussion and collaboration to improve areas of concern; Access to reports on customer complaints/rejects for their wines and any analysis that may be performed to assess root cause;

On-going sensory tests may be conducted with every SKU of wine that it decants using a process similar to the following:

One experimental Control Case having the same SKU wine will be stored in perfect conditions for the type of wine; and

Two bottles from this Control Case will be decanted and the ensuing sample bottles will be stored in the same perfect conditions as the remaining source bottles; and

Every week for 10 weeks a trained sensory panel will evaluate the wine in two sample bottles against the contents of 1 source bottle.

If no marked differences in wine quality are discerned by the expert sensory panel the wine contents in the sample bottles can be considered to be evolving on par with the original source bottles.

In addition to all of these tests, others may be devised. For example, a decanted package may be shipped across the country and returned to see if there is any degradation in the sample.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.




 
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