Vint Cerf's futuristic wine cellar | Hacker News Reader

Vint Cerf's futuristic wine cellar

arstechnica.com

30 pointssp33210 comments

A "Butler's Friend" is a device that allows you to remove the cork without drilling into it: (http://www.cheftools.com/images/03-0579.jpg)

The idea is that the butler could discreetly pull out the cork & sneak a few pulls from the owner's wine collection- day to day it's very handy for fixing botched cork openings

I fail to see how putting an RFID tag in the cork rather than the bottle would stop someone from drinking the wine without permission.

In fact, it would be even less secure, since now you can take the bottle upstairs, leaving the cork (and RFID tag) in the cellar.

Perhaps you could do it in such a way that removing the cork necessarily destroys the RFID tag. Then the absence of the tag would indicate the cork having been tampered.

Then you just have to limit your wine-pilfering to the champagne section, because you can open them undetectably through Sabrage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabrage)

Note that he said "sensors," not "RFID tags." And given his follow-on thoughts about testing for drinkability, clearly he was speculating about more than just RFID.

I think he meant as well, but it seems like it was mostly just a joke. :)

Yeah I think locking a door seems like a more practical form of theft prevention

If his wine ended up at 70deg, does it mean that his entire collection went up in smoke?

I'm not a wine drinker so I do not have much idea at what temperature wine starts breaking down or what the ideal temperature it should be stored at. Anyone?

EDIT: http://www.bettertastingwine.com/temperature.html

For couple days, 70F shouldn't be a problem at all. Remember that most wine shops aren't refrigerated, and who knows what the wine might have experienced between the winery and the retailer.

It should definitely be stored at a temperature lower than that, but I have a hard time imagining it going bad because it was outside the ideal temp window for a few days.

How about just installing a video camera in the cellar?

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