VITeff Innovation awards | The Bubbl. project by Wikeeps
The Bubbl. process, created by the 2 companies Wikeeps and Altavinis and awarded the innovation prize at the last VITeff, is designed to preserve the effervescence and qualities of champagne for more than a week after opening the bottle.
"Bubbl. is the culmination of a very long process of reflection"
In 2010, Wikeeps had already designed and patented the Wikeeps portable process for serving and preserving still wines. The system was based on the principles of wine-making: a neutral, inert gas (Argon + CO2) is injected into an open bottle to enable it to be stored for 20 to 30 days, depending on the type of wine. The Essentiel kit, still on the market 10 years later, is used in many châteaux, restaurants and wine bar bottles.
Its uniqueness: robust (stainless steel), it fits all bottle sizes (from 0,75cl to 12l) and enables service, aeration, filtration and conservation in a single action...
A few years later, Wikeeps was asked by a major Champagne operator to develop the same system for sparkling wines. After 2 years of R&D and numerous tests on both materials and gas, the solution came to nothing.
"In 2015, a small group of players working on innovation in the wine sector got together to form La Winetech. When I joined the Winetech cluster, I met a competitor, Altavinis, which operates in the same segment of wine service and preservation. What was initially an atmosphere of mistrust turned into a wonderful human and technical encounter that illustrates our complementary strengths"
Based in Château-Thierry, Altavinis had also given a great deal of thought to a process for preserving sparkling wines. By combining our experience (15 years in inerting between the 2 of us + 2 patents) and our respective advances, we were able to re-open the door to the conservation of Champagne. Between 2020 and 2022, this was followed by months of research and development into the behaviour of the bubble and the gas to prevent oxidation, three-dimensional prints and prototype corks, and numerous tastings with cellar managers and Champagne winemakers...
By the end of 2022, we were finally ready to put a prototype on the market. We took part in Equiphotel in November 2022 to test the appetite of end customers and finalise the product's marketing mix... This will be followed by the launch of the product in Q1 2023... and as a bonus, the VITeff award, which confirms our commitment to our approach.
Bubbl. is a portable, easy-to-use process that takes the form of
- a cork that seals the champagne bottle after opening
- a dispensing gun containing oenological gas to protect the wine from oxidation,
- a gas cartridge containing a mixture of CO2 and nitrogen to preserve partially consumed bottles for more than seven days
"The originality of the system lies partly in our closure, which has two valves, one for injecting the oenological gas and the other for extracting the air. In this way, the gas sweeps in at a slight pressure of just under three bars to expel the oxygen that entered the bottle when it was opened, without ever interacting with the wine.
The aim is never to regasify the champagne"
In his opinion, a series of tasting tests, notably with Domaine Bérèche et Fils in Ludes, validate the process and show no difference in quality or freshness between a wine opened immediately and one preserved by gas. Bubbl. offers an efficient and economical solution for winemakers to use in their tasting cellars, or at trade fairs such as Wineparis or ProWein. But it is also aimed at individuals who hesitate to open bottles of champagne for fear of not being able to drink them straight away.
"As sparkling wine re-corked with our system is not altered in any way, it can be kept throughout a trade show or at the estate during tastings with customers. It's a substantial saving, and the champagne is no longer wasted. For the wine merchants and on-trade markets, it also means that we can offer customers a wide range of champagnes by the glass."
