An inventor and wine lover in the United States is making the wine world a better place by designing a drip-free bottle that prevents spillage of any valuable nectar.

Daniel Perlman, oenophile and biophysicist at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, has used his powers for good with a simple redesign that solves the age-old pour problem.

After three years of studying the flow of liquid across the wine bottle’s lip in slow-motion videos, Perlman observed that the drippage was most extreme when a bottle was full.

He also noticed that the stream of wine tends to curl backward over the lip and run down the side of the glass bottle due to the “hydrophilic” nature of glass, meaning that glass attracts water.

After cutting a circular groove around the neck of the bottle just beneath the lip with a diamond-studded tool, Perlman created an obstacle that diverts wayward wine droplets away from the side of the bottle, and into the main stream of wine.

That means no more soiled tablecloths or waiters and sommeliers walking around with red wine-stained napkins.

While there are wine accessories like drip collars that are designed to prevent spillage, Perlman notes that the traditional wine bottle hasn’t changed in 200 years.

“I wanted to change the wine bottle itself,” he said. “I didn’t want there to be the additional cost or inconvenience of buying an accessory.”

The drip-free wine bottle is one of more than 100 Perlman inventions and patents that include the first miniaturized home radon detector, healthy fats in Smart Balance margarine, and coffee flour, a food ingredient and nutritional supplement derived from par-baked coffee beans.

Perlman is currently speaking with bottle manufacturers about adopting his design. JB