Ideum’s interactive table transforms wine tasting

Published September 30th, 2024 at 12:37 pm, Last Updated September 30th, 2024 at 4:17 pm

Wine tasting is getting a high-tech twist, thanks to Ideum’s latest innovation. 

The Corrales-based design firm is merging tradition and technology with its Tasting Table — an interactive touch table that hopes to revolutionize wine tasting to make it more interactive and fun.

Ideum, a 25-year-old experience design firm specializing in interactive exhibits and public installations, has developed a touch table paired with immersive wine-tasting software to attract a younger generation of wine enthusiasts.

“The biggest wineries will sometimes do focus groups to figure out what your tasting notes are,” said Jim Spadaccini, founder and creative director of Ideum. “But this kind of turns that whole thing on its head, [the people] decide what they’re tasting, not the sommelier, not the winemaker, not the winery and there’s some power in that.”

Spadaccini, the former director of interactive media at San Francisco’s Exploratorium, founded Ideum 25 years ago in California. After falling in love with New Mexico while working on a project in Chaco Canyon, he relocated the company to Corrales in 2006. Ideum’s first office in the village was in the building now home to the Ex Novo tasting room.

Ideum’s Tasting Table was born from Spadaccini’s passion for wine and the company’s expertise in designing “visitor-centric” touch tables for interactive museum exhibits worldwide.

“In some ways, this is the only thing like this in the world,” Spadaccini said. “We’re the right group to do this, we’re one of the top touch table manufacturers in the world. We’ve sold our products in 45 countries around the world.”

Leading up to the Tasting Table, Ideum created an interactive coffee-tasting application in collaboration with Starbucks and developed an engaging wine-tasting experience with JCB Wines. Additionally, the company recently partnered with MSC Cruises to design an interactive wine bar for one of its cruise ships.

The Tasting Table is a bar-height interactive touch table designed for up to four guests to explore wine. It features a 55-inch optically bonded LCD touch display, with wood and steel construction handcrafted in Corrales.

About eight years ago, the company developed Tangible Engine, the first object-recognition software designed for projected-capacitive touch tables. This technology, utilized by various design firms and organizations beyond Ideum, enables the Windows-based software to recognize multiple objects, including different types of wines through custom 3D-printed coasters that help identify individual selections.

“Often, as we’re working with museums, we’re the advocate for the visitor,” Spadaccini said. “Well, I kind of feel like we’re the advocate for the wine drinker.” 

Locally, Ideum collaborated with VARA Winery and Distillery at its Nob Hill tasting room in Albuquerque to host pop-up events. These events allowed patrons to experience the Tasting Table while providing valuable feedback to help Ideum enhance the tasting wheel and software.

According to Spadaccini, the digital tasting wheel is the centerpiece of the table’s software. His inspiration came 25 years ago, during a “Science of Wine” project at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, where he met Ann Noble, a sensory chemist and professor at UC Davis. Noble developed the wine aroma wheel in the 1980s to assist wine novices and improve communication with wine professionals.

The modified digital tasting wheel lets users identify wines, log flavor profiles, and share notes, enabling winemakers to crowdsource data. Wineries can create tastings with up to eight wines, and guests’ selections are recorded and added to cloud-based analytics, helping winemakers gather insights on aromas and flavors. This focus on pleasant flavors enhances the overall tasting experience.

“We talked a lot about the idea that if you have four people sitting around a table drinking wine, you’re probably going to have a good experience. So you don’t want to screw that up, you want to make it better,” Spadaccini said. 

Spadaccini estimates the table, produced in small batches, will be priced around $25,000, likely accompanied by a subscription service.

Although not yet on the market, Ideum has already received inquiries about the table from around the world, including Turkey, South Africa, and Napa Valley. The first table was sold to the New Mexico Wine Association for its new tasting room in Old Town.

Ideum will showcase the Tasting Table at the VARA tasting room in Santa Fe Oct. 3-18. Later in October, they will participate alongside VARA and Mission Winery at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe for the Saints & Santos: Picturing the Holy in New Spain exhibit.

According to Spadaccini, Ideum is developing a champagne tasting table with a customized tasting wheel for sparkling wines. In addition, they are exploring other beverage and product applications, including beer, whiskey and cannabis, for future interactive tasting experiences.