Our Story

Hello fellow wine lovers!

Checking out our QelviQ, Your Personal Sommelier, tells me that you, too, not only love the finest wine, but appreciate the way it’s meant to be savored.

It all started one day when my sister Helena and I were seated with our best friends on a beautiful terrace overlooking the Tuscan hills--to be exact, in Italy’s quaint, red wine-rich southern Tuscany region of Val d’ Orcia. We were taking in a gorgeous late afternoon view after a perfect day in the area that’s long been a favorite of everyone from Renaissance painters to legendary filmmakers like Federico Fellini (he shot some of 8 ½ there) and modern art photographers.

The only thing out of place was the bottle of Chianti.

Don’t get me wrong! It wasn’t the chianti, for we had been served an excellent bottle. But somehow it seemed as if the wine was overcooked: It was warm and totally lacking in freshness—and it was not the first time this had happened to us.

But there were times when the opposite was true—that our favorite drink is too cold. In fact, most of the time even the champagne we sip at home falls on my tongue like somebody dropped a freezer on it!

So, I wondered, how can it be possible that such a key part of tasting these liquid pieces of artwork, in which artisan winemakers put their hearts and souls into crafting, is overlooked? And why do we wine connoisseurs and wine lovers accept red wine that is served way too warm, and white and sparkling wines way too cold, let alone the popular rosés, which are served and imbibed like lemonade?

Finally, how could it be that every year 33 billion bottles of wine are consumed--and almost none of it is served at the ideal temperature? 

So I said to myself, “Never again!” And from that point on I investigated this situation. I spoke with sommeliers and winemakers--the grandmasters of wine, who know far much more than I do in this regard. I went to every wine fair, engaging in endless conversations concerning the taste of wine and all the factors that affected it.

Everywhere I went, every connoisseur agreed that the ideal serving temperature was the single most important factor influencing a wine’s taste. My desktop research confirmed it: from Jancis Robinson to Enrico Bernardo, from Elizabeth Schneider to Raimond Thomsons, they all affirmed the importance of serving the wine at the ideal serving temperature.

Wine is chemically complex and delicate! Temperature can wreak havoc on all its essential components, and I realized that we neglect the importance of that last mile of the journey of wine from the grapes to our lips: Yes, there are wine refrigerators, but they can’t guarantee the perfect sip.

Helena, who lives in New York, and I (I’m in Antwerp, Belgium) now decided that it was up to us to solve this problem once and for all! So we assembled a diverse team of sommeliers, products engineers, and computer hardware and full stack web developers, all aboard to tackle every aspect of this most intricate problem: We not only had to find a way to guarantee the ideal serving temperature, but we had to create a database with the right serving temperatures for all wines! We wanted us all to be able to enjoy, at the ideal temperature, the world’s most divine product with friends and family.

After eight years of research, including 315 test prototypes, 36 product iterations and four live production batches, we hereby bring you our QelviQ Personal Sommelier!

The QelviQ Personal Sommelier is a beautifully designed portable temperature control device that brings every type of wine to its ideal serving temperature. When paired with the accompanying QelviQ App, it really does become your personal digital sommelier in delivering what is truly the ultimate wine experience.

For sure enough, when the highly advanced QelviQ hardware and software are connected, a system using state-of-the-art, internet-of-things technology is set in place for solving that last mile of your wine’s journey. Significantly, QelviQ measures the temperature of the wine in the bottle and automatically ensures that it reaches the correct temperature--and stays there! The connected QelviQ app, with its database of over 300,000 wines with their ideal serving temperature (based on grape and terroir—and available in seven languages), sends the ideal temperature of your specific wine to your QelviQ with one touch of a screen, and also keeps track of your wine inventory.

And by the way, as for that ill-fated bottle of Chianti, we found out that its ideal serving temperature is 15°C. Sadly, we had swallowed it at room temperature! That was 7°C too warm--the difference between a heavenly taste, or a hellish wine experience.

Finally, please enjoy our magazine, filled with interviews with the world’s wine experts, and the science behind the ideal serving temperature.   

Wine regards

Xavier
Founder CEO
QelviQ