• Lorient entrepreneur Tegwen Naveos was awarded a gold medal at the Concours Lépine for his capsule called Beaucarnéa.
  • Sealed at the end of the bottles, it certifies the good conservation of a wine by indicating the minimum and maximum temperatures undergone by the beverage during its life cycle.
  • The invention also aims to protect major areas from counterfeiting.

The trip was worth the trip. Traveling for two weeks at the Paris Fair to participate in the Lépine Competition, Tegwen Naveos returned Tuesday to Morbihan with a gold medal hanging around his neck. "This is the recognition of ten years of work and research and I hope that it will open up great prospects for us," reacts the winner of the prestigious competition. Called Beaucarnea, his invention aims to revolutionize the conservation and traceability of wine bottles. All thanks to a sealed capsule at the bottom of the bottle that provides information on the experience of the famous beverage.

On its origin of course and its vintage thanks to a unique number assigned to each estate and a dial color specific to each cuvée. But above all on the temperature of the wine at time t and on the variations it has undergone during its life cycle. Because it is well known, the wines do not appreciate too cold or too hot temperatures and sudden variations in the thermometer. "It alters the taste qualities of the wine," says Tegwen Naveos.

"No one pays attention to the transport of wine"

In a booming market for Grands Crus, where bottles are exchanged and traveled to the four corners of the planet, some buyers sometimes buy bottles that have been lugged around in less than optimal conditions. "No one pays attention to the transport of wine today when we control the cold chain for all foods," he says.

To stop the massacre and reassure the customer about the bottle he buys, Tegwen Naveos has developed this capsule that allows with the help of two needles to know at a glance the minimum and maximum temperatures suffered by the bottle over the years. "It's irreversibly recorded and it's tamper-proof," says the designer.

A way to fight counterfeiting

A sommelier by training, he had the idea for this capsule about ten years ago following a rather traumatic experience. "I sold bottles of Château Margaux that I had bought for the birth of my daughter to a person," he says. She must not have known much about wine because she left her bottles for long minutes in the trunk of her car parked in the sun. I broke out in a cold sweat. »

Discreet about the components of his invention, which does not use any technology and whose design he has entrusted to a watchmaker, Tegwen Naveos hopes in the coming months to convince major estates to seal his capsule at the bottom of their bottles. "It is also a way to fight against counterfeiting that pollutes the wine market, especially on vintages with many fake bottles but also many real bottles but with false content," says the Lorient entrepreneur, also head of the online sales site Pur Jus, specializing in organic and natural wines.

  • Lépine Competition
  • Invention
  • Innovation
  • Bottle
  • Wine
  • Temperature
  • Lorient
  • Brittany
  • Society