The stuff around us is becoming increasingly clever. The "internet of things" is seeing smart packaging that can tell us details about what's inside it, like product information and best consumption times.

Elsewhere, futuristic technology is being used to recreate wines molecule by molecule, while wine delivery of tomorrow could have a whole new meaning.

Welcome to the future of wine. Here are four wine-based innovations to have on your radar now… 

TEMPERATURE TRACKER

Taylors wines have come up with an ingenious way to help us enjoy wine at the perfect temperature. Bottles of Taylors Estate or Taylors Promised Land now feature smart labels that can tell you the best temperature to drink your wine. The labels (pictured below) feature a special sensor that changes colour as the wine’s temperature increases and decreases.

Users simply place their bottle of Taylors in the fridge for 30 minutes, then remove it and swipe the sensor on the back label. This will show the current temperature of the wine, and whether the colour matches the perfect temperature range on the scale. Once the sensor reaches the ideal spot, pour and enjoy. (Available at some Liquorland stores)

CONNECTED BOTTLE

Created by a tech startup in Boston, Kuvée is a digitised empty wine bottle featuring an internet-enabled touchscreen from which you can order specially designed cartridges of wine. Once the cartridge is in you can see information on the wine, such as tasting notes, vineyard info and suggested food pairings, while building a profile of your preferred tastes.

CLONED WINE

Wine is made from grapes right – well what if it wasn’t? Ava Wines is a San Francisco startup that identifies the necessary molecules in a wine, and uses cellular biology (lab-grown food techniques) to recreate it. With an ecological mission to avoid the land-use impact of vineyards, this project is currently still in the early development stages, so you’ll have to wait for your first glass of cloned wine. 

VIRTUAL WINE

In early 2017, scientists at the Keio-NUS CUTE Center at the National University of Singapore (a collaboration with Japan’s Keio University) managed to “teleport” lemonade. Not quite at the full Star Trek stage yet, the team recreated the taste of lemonade by transmitting it to a special vessel containing water, which has metal strips on the edge that stimulate the tongue sensation of sourness. The metal strips use electrical currents to mimic the taste sensations of bitter, salty, sweet and sour flavours on the tongue. One day wine of the future could be transported from store to dining table like this – boldly going where no man (or wine) has gone before.