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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

wine aerator

Aveine Launches New Lower-Cost Connected, Essential Wine Aerator

Aveine, which promises to help you enjoy your wine more thanks to tiny air bubbles, announced its new, lower cost Essential wine aerator today.

Aveine’s aeration system has two components. The hardware is the aerator that plugs into the top of an open wine bottle and injects tiny bubbles into the wine as you pour. Then there is the connected mobile app that you use to scan a wine label. The app identifies the type of wine and, based on that information, tells the aerator exactly how much air to add as you pour the wine.

This precise aeration, according to the company, means you don’t have to wait for the wine to “breathe” after opening a bottle. You’ll also get a more rounded wine taste with more flavor.

The first generation of the Aveine, released back in 2018, isn’t cheap, costing $449. That’s a lot of money for a bunch of tiny bubbles. Though, if you are a collector or someone who is really into their wine, that might seem like a fair deal.

The rest of us, however, probably wouldn’t spend that kind of scratch for our $12 bottle of pinot. With its lower cost, the new Essential aerator is a play to reach a wider audience.

Like its more expensive predecessor, the Essential also offers precise aeration as well as connection with the app for automatic adjustments, according to press materials sent to The Spoon.

However, the Essential is more limited in its aeration scale (the number of aerated hours the device replicates), and has a shorter free trial (30 days versus 60) and warranty (one year versus five years).

But the biggest factor for most people in the wider audience Aveine is trying to reach is the cost. The Essential will be available at a pre-sale price of 199€ (~$232 USD) from Sept. 24 – Oct. 31. After that, the Essential will cost 249€ (~$290 USD).

That’s still not cheap for most people. But given how wine sales surged during the pandemic over the summer, and the colder months ahead (coupled with continued COVID), perhaps people will pony up to get a little more flavor in their lives while they are housebound.

Aveine Raises €1 Million for its Connected Aerator that Injects Tiny Bubbles of Air into Your Wine

Tiny bubbles. In the wine. Makes me happy. And piques investor interest, apparently. Paris-based startup Aveine, which makes a connected wine aerator, announced this week that it has raised a €1 million ($1.13M USD) from the Newfund innovation fund to expand internationally.

Aveine is a device that fits on the top of a wine bottle and shoots tiny air bubbles into the wine as you pour it. This may sound like next-level wine snobbery and silliness, but aerating wine is an important step in getting the full flavor experience out of a bottle.

However, not all wines should be aerated the same, which is where the Aveine comes in handy. Users scan the wine label with the accompanying mobile app, which talks to the bottle top device. Using on the company’s database of 10,000 wines, Aveine algorithmically adjusts how much air is injected into the wine based on its varietal and vintage. According to the company, these bubbles create more surface air-rea for the wine to interact, delivering a “rounder” wine with more taste than one would get drinking it straight from the bottle.

When we covered Aveine last year, its device was available to pre-order for $100 on Indiegogo, where the company raised more than $150,000 from backers. Those backers got a great deal back then as the retail price for the Aveine has jumped to €399 in France and $449 internationally. That is a lot of le pain to shoot air in du vin.

With its new funding, Aveine says it plans to expand further internationally into the United States and Asian markets. In the funding press announcement, Aveine said that it also has ambitions beyond bubbles, as it wants to become more of a platform that connects products and services around wine, offering features like augmented reality and personalized recommendations.

There are plenty of companies hawking solutions to improve your wine drinking experience. As Aveine is funded to fuel international expansion, we’ll have to see if its tiny bubbles make customers feel warm all over.