Noninvasive Refractometer

Valoa Wine Brix
Valoa Brix measures the sugar content of a beverage without opening the bottle!
White wines, red wines, sparkling wines and liqueurs, as well as clear juices.

Use Valoa Brix to select the right wine.

You may think it’s as simple as reading the label on a wine bottle, but in reality even the most experienced connoisseur will occasionally be surprised. It can really be a downer at dinner when the wine you picked out at the store is too sweet to go with your main course, or tastes too bland with your dessert.

While the majority of wines are dry, an important segment of the wine universe is populated by wines of varying degrees of sweetness, each one wonderful in its own way. The best known dessert wines come from France (Sauternes, Loire, Alsace, the southern Muscat’s), Germany (the various *leses), Austria, Italy (Vin Santo), Hungary (Tokaji), California, Australia and South Africa. The bottle markings, such as Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese give only an approximate idea of the sweetness and the neighboring categories overlap.

Measure the natural sweetness of any clear beverage.

Valoa Brix will tell you what level of sweetness you are looking at right through the bottle. White wine, red wine, sparkling wine, and sake — in fact any clear liquid — you name it. When wondering about sugar content, the answer fits right in your pocket. Using Valoa Brix is simple!

When you are about to make a sauce with white wine, you want to make sure that the wine does not bring unwanted sugar into the sauce, right? Easy. Just check the bottle with Valoa Brix before opening it. For sake lovers, Valoa Brix has an approximate Sake Meter Value (SMV, Nihonshudo) scale as an option. Many more applications will be found.

US Patent 10,139,340 was issued to Valoa Brix on November 27, 2018.

Project Status

  • Two working prototypes have been built. They are being used to optimize the performance and manufacturability of Valoa Brix.
  • The final multi-beam optical design is complete.
  • Mechanical and electrical design are being refined for mass production.
  • Firmware is being written.
  • Industrial design, with the definition of user experience, is starting.
  • Since we are only starting the industrial design, we do not know yet how the final Valoa Brix will look like.

Technical Description

VALOA BRIX is a non-invasive refractometer that measures the refractive index of a liquid across a glass wall.

The sugar content of wine is generally measured in one of two units, Brix (= %) or grams/liter (g/l). 10 g/l = 1 Brix. Adding sugar to liquids makes their refractive index go up.

In wine, it is the sugar content that affects the index most. Alcohol affects the index as well, but since the alcohol content is always indicated on the label, its effect can be taken into account.

The measurement is based on the amplitude of the Fresnel reflection. Cloudy liquids cannot be measured, because the back-scatter from the cloudiness interferes with the measurement. The color of the bottle does not have an effect on the result, because the absorption of light in the glass, if any, is compensated for by the multiple-beam optics.

The wall thickness of the bottle also has no effect on the result, due to the design of the optics. A patent is pending.

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