Plum Automatic Wine Preservation Dispenser

At first glance, the Plum wine dispenser looks straightforward and unobtrusive. Although it is designed to match its almost futuristic features (which we will talk about later in this review), the exterior of the dispenser is made of a simple and soft stainless steel that flows into a beautifully shaped ebony front panel. In fact, the Plum wine dispenser is so simple in design you might wonder what all the fuss is about. A quick look inside the unit reveals a different picture. Designed to impressive standards, the Plum wine dispenser boasts features that seem too good to be true.

Plum’s website describes it as “the first system for automatic cooling, storage, and serving of wine”. Now we have to be careful, other manufacturers have made this claim before. Most notably, Napa Technologies, which has been selling its main wine product for more than 8 years now, is both directed and branded with Dacor. But Napa Technologies has been promising Napa Technologies. The Technologies website will present several claims about the features of their Winetation dispenser, including a cooling system, automatic pouring, and bottle conversion (to name a few).

Our test unit from Plum, Wrapping Up

Napa Technologies’ wine decanter promises everything from state-of-the-art ‘thermo-electric coupling technology’ to hotel room key integration – impressive features, but not as important as how the wine itself is preserved by the system. In our re-examination of the world, we found it much less interesting than promised – up to 1 week of preservation until the wine is noticeably different in taste. With such a short shelf life, which creates frequent cleaning and maintenance, maintaining the machine is more work than home buyers are willing to accept. The Plum Wine dispenser is the first system we’ve tested that lives up to all the hype. The Plum Wine Dispenser is a “smart” device, so it needs internet access to work. To do this, it uses a built-in WiFi connection, an ethernet port, and an integrated speaker.

Behind the Plum Wine Dispenser is where Breathing Happens

Internal Identification and Cooling System

Each indoor wine cellar is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera that quickly scans the wine label placed in the wine dispenser and verifies the wine’s identity by using a database of over 6 million different wines. It then determines the appropriate temperature for the wine to be served and adjusts the settings on the machine. All of this is said to be done with 95% accuracy, which, if the data is correct, is an amazing rate!

Two cooling rooms.

Features and Connections

Once the Plum wine dispenser has identified the type of wine and its characteristics, simply approaching the dispenser will light up the 7-inch, full-color IPS screen. In the color screen you will find all the data collected about the wine bottle. You quickly become knowledgeable about wine details – including region, variety, and interesting facts about winemaking.

Worship

The Plum can hold any two unopened standard-size 750ml bottles of wine, both heated to their proper, separate temperatures – at the same time. While the dual cooling system is a nice feature, my main question was, “How does the Plum actually release the wine without it needing to mature?”. However, Plum uses a patented double-threaded needle to pierce the cork of each bottle – without destroying the closure – and withdraw the wine.

Plum’s UI is very impressive in Product V1

After the needle is inserted, its automatic program allows you to choose between a full wine offering, a partial tasting, or your custom selection. And how long will that glass of wine last? From choosing your serving size to a full, ‘ready to drink glass’, Plum takes just 12 seconds!

Preservation

For many, the biggest obstacle to opening a bottle of wine is the possibility that the bottle will not be finished quickly enough to preserve the integrity of the wine. Wine left for too long without proper storage loses much of its flavor and tends to go down the drain shortly after opening. With the state-of-the-art Plum wine dispenser preservation system, each bottle stored in the Plum wine dispenser is preserved for up to 90 days after opening. How? Remember that double-threaded needle used to pierce the cork for serving?

Our wine tasting at Kitchenworks

After piercing the cork to give the wine, each bottle is immediately filled with argon gas and the needle is not removed until the bottle is empty or changed – finally preventing the oxidation of the wine and preserving its taste. With one reusable container of argon gas, the Plum can store up to 150 different bottles of wine before needing to be recharged! This means you spend less time worrying about an empty glass and more time enjoying your newly honed sommelier skills.

Related: Best Wine Coolers of 2017

Storage

The Plum is small compared to the width of its features, measuring only 15″x17″x20.5″ and weighing 65 pounds (about 29 pounds). This dispenser is designed with size in mind, as it is compact enough to be placed on a kitchen counter or bar yet open enough to hold two full bottles.

Good and bad

While the Plum dispenser is one of a kind, it’s not exactly cheap. With a retail price of $2,749 USD, if you’re not a serious wine drinker (or intend to be), the Plum might cost you too much. On top of the hefty price tag, the Plum wine cooler comes with a one-year limited warranty, which – for the price of the item – doesn’t feel long enough. That being said, the unit we tested feels very well built. The technology inside is tried and true and we don’t expect this to be a high-end service item like a dishwasher or washing machine. Compared to its closest competitors, however, the Plum Wine Dispenser and Preserve is stealing. Both Napa Technology and Dacor have products that only partially fulfill their promises in terms of maintenance, but their prices are more than double the cost of the Plum machine. Whichever way you fall on the debate about the utility and usefulness of the Plum automatic wine maker, one thing that cannot be denied is the innovation and uniqueness of this product. To buy or not to buy – I’ll leave that up to you.

OUR DECISION: BUY

December 2, 2018Anthony Rocco