Bottled Palate Cleanser Under Development

The song talks about putting time in a bottle, but two Cal Poly students had another idea, to develop a palate cleanser in a bottle, to be consumed between wine tastings. Under the headline, "Wine Notes: Cal Poly Alums Create 'Palate Cleansing Beverage' Aimed at Winemakers," San Luis Obsipo Tribune Reporter Janis Switzer writes:

"Five months after receiving their diplomas, most college graduates are looking for a job, looking for a place to live, and just generally looking for a direction in life."

"Not so with Andrew Macaluso and Nicole Chamberlain, who are traveling California test marketing and selling the innovative new product they developed while working toward their degrees in enology and viticulture in Cal Poly’s wine and viticulture program."

"The product they created is SanTásti, a “palate cleansing beverage” that they hope will help winemakers evaluate their wines more accurately, as well as help tasting rooms better represent their wines to often overwhelmed consumers."

"The concept is simple, but there is no other comparable product on the market right now, and Macaluso and Chamberlain have already filed for a patent."

"They’ve already started the framework for a company they plan to expand into other innovative products."

"Neither of the partners initially started in the Cal Poly wine program. Macaluso was a chemistry major and Chamberlain a biology major."

'They met during their first year in chemistry class, but two years later they decided that the lab was not for them."

"They changed majors in their junior year, and found themselves analyzing the effect of enzymes and bacteria on wine quality."

“One thing that we just decided to look at out of the blue was the quality that was assigned to the wine based on the order the wine was tested,” Macaluso explains."

"It was then that the couple saw a pattern that indicated palate fatigue played an important role on how a person evaluates wine quality."

“It was things like that that really piqued our interest,” Macaluso says."

"So one night watching television at home, they decided to try to come up with a “palate cleanser.”

You can read the rest of the article here.