High-Tech Labels Warn of 'Cooked' Wine

From CNN.com - Technology:

NAPA, California (AP) -- Sultry weather can be hard on any traveler, and for wine it can be disastrous. A high-tech shipping label now being used by some in the industry aims to warn customers if there's a chance they're getting cooked cabernet. About the size of a sugar packet, the labels can be programmed for a range of temperatures and placed directly on the product or its packaging. A light flashes green if the product stays within specifications and yellow if it doesn't. Information on exactly what temperatures the product reached and when can be downloaded via a portable reader into a computer spreadsheet. If there is a problem, the data show where it occurred, helpful in determining who's responsible. "We've been waiting for something like this," said Jayme Silva of the Napa Valley winery Robert Biale Vineyards. Among those using the technology is WTN Services, a Napa-based shipper that has been offering the temperature monitor to customers of its retail brand Ambrosia, a wine catalog, and is now making it an option for other wineries shipping through WTN. "It's been a great success," said Chris Edwards, vice president and general manager of WTN, which like Ambrosia is a subsidiary of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM Inc. The labels cost WTN customers $20 a box -- the equivalent of 10 bottles of Two Buck Chuck, but a fraction of the cost of a case of $100-a-bottle Napa cab, Edwards notes. Made by Boise, Idaho-based PakSense Inc. and on the market for about two years, the temperature monitors had been primarily used by the food industry but lately have been finding a market in wine shipping as well, company spokeswoman Amy Childress said. Temperature control is key for wine. Heat speeds up aging, which may sound like a good idea but results in diminished flavor. If the bottles get too hot the wine is "cooked," which means it may taste flat or be otherwise flawed.

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