Ullo - Wine Purifier - Black

This product is designed to purify wine. It also slightly alters the taste of wine to make it smoother per both my wife and myself who also tested it. I did read technical reviews of this device and since I am an engineer I understood the basis for why it works. The inventor did a great job in finding a way to filter out sulfites and the filters are integral to the device as they provide the reaction that cleans the wine. It is important to say that via my own research I did read that no chemicals are added to the wine, just the sulfite removal. I did not find it a problem to take the few seconds it took to pour through the filter into an individual wine glass. The product comes with a base which is handy so you can set the filter part onto it and enjoy the wine and clean it later. It did seem that using the setting to aerate the wine made the wine taster better, but that is probably a personal thing and so some people may want to pour without adding air which is the other setting. The device is very solid and well designed so that I do think it will provide years of service. The item is a little pricey but I would rather have them make a solid unit like this one versus some TV special item which people know are flimsy usually; so I do think it is worth the price. It did occur to me that this item might make a good gift for people who you can't think of what to give them. Item is boxed very plush so it looks good and the packaging no doubt protects it from damage in shipment. I think this product is a winner especially for someone like me who likes the wine taste better when I used it.

Just to clarify for everyone- this is not a wine aerator, but is primarily designed to chemically remove sulfates from wine for those people who are sensitive to them. For those who find that red wine is a migraine trigger (like my wife, for example), the sulfites are a potential culprit. You do need to add a packet with the binding agent to the ullo for every bottle you wish to filter. These are about $20 for a six pack through their website, so figure it's going to cost you an extra $3.50 per bottle to use this thing. If it saves you a bad reaction, or allows you to enjoy a bottle of wine when you otherwise might have been afraid, that isn't too bad. We used this on four bottles of wine (reds only, they are primarily what I drink, and those are the ones that seem to be problematic for my wife, so that is what we used. It can be used on whites and rose's, as well- but isn't recommended for sparkling wines) over the course of a week. (No, I don't normally drink four bottles of wine in a week... in case my mother is reading this). The wines ranged from a $7 bottle of Yellowtail shiraz to a $30 french cab franc. In addition to drinking the wine and waiting for side effects (the only way to determine if the ullo is providing benefit for you), I did make a point to do a test of filtered vs. unfiltered wine to determine if the process affected the taste/experience of the wine itself. Both glasses in this case were aerated with the ullo, with the latter being run through before the addition of the sulfite binding agent. From the first bottle, the products flaw (to me) became apparent as it clearly altered the experience of the wine. I say experience, because it was more nuanced than just flavor (thought I found it did have some effect on flavor, as well, but in a very subtle way). It tended to smooth out the wine, rounding off tannins on those wines heavy with those, and altered the mouth feel to a different degree, as well. Everything that had been filtered seemed to lose complexity, but became more fruit forward in a way that may people may find pleasing. I personally don't want to do anything to my wine that alters its flavor in any way, at least for anything that I spent more than $10 on. I actually think it positively enhanced that $7 bottle of Yellowtail, however. So- did it help? Well, after the first bottle, my wife got her migraine that night, per her routine. But we realized she was taste testing with both filtered and unfiltered wines, which exposed her to some sulfites, even if a much lower amount than usual. After that, she stuck to the filtered wines only, and had no headache whatsoever after all three of the remaining bottles. The epidemiologist in me is quick to admit that this sample is far to small to make any firm conclusions- but it gave us enough faith to order six more filters to use for those times in the future when my wife wants to indulge. We will just make sure to use it on those bottles where we (I) wouldn't be sad to see the nuances lost.

To be honest, I was pretty skeptical that this would make any difference. After trying it, I can say that the wine seemed slightly smoother when run through the Ullo. Is it a night & day difference? No, but it is there. The main difference I noticed was I didn’t wake up the next morning with a headache. I definitely didn’t consume any less wine than I normally would have. In fact, I probably had more than normal (purely for testing purposes, of course…) so I can only attribute the lack of headache to the Ullo. Unfortunately, this headache-free evening comes at a slight cost. For starters, it takes a minute or two for the wine to filter into your glass. This isn’t a huge deal, but you will probably notice it more than you’d think. The second drawback is that the filters are only good for one bottle OR 3-4 hours, so don’t think you’ll be able to enjoy a glass one night, then reuse the filter the following night. I imagine keeping filters around could get a little pricey, depending on how often you enjoy a nice wine.

A gift from the Gods! I am allergic to sulfites, cannot take sulfa drugs. This product helps me drink wine without the side effects of migraines, stuffy nose, and blotchy flushed skin. The purifier takes the weird tinny taste out at the end of the sip. The taste of the wine is slightly compromised, but it is fine. You place the filter over your wine glass or you can order the decanter and filter the entire bottle at once. The price point for this product is very reasonable. I wonder if this works for hard liquor as well?

The Ullo wine purifier is simple to operate. Just pop in the filter and set it on a wine glass and pour some wine in. We tried it on about 2 bottles and did not notice any hang over symptoms in the morning. The only complaint I have is that you can only pour a little wine at a time. Other than that it works.

I have tried this twice and both times I was headache-free. I have allergies to sulfites and always needed to take over-the-counter allergy pills if I had more than 2 glasses of wine. I don't believe they are needed anymore. I also don't like the idea of additives and believe in a more natural way of life and by taking out the sulfites from the wine, I believe I am living a more natural life by omitting another additive. Because I believe the filters themselves are a bit expensive, I am subtracting a star. As for the product itself, it is 5 stars because it works as stated.

I don't react well to wines with added sulfites - even a single glass of it can give me a stuffy nose and three glasses gives me a headache that lasts from the time I drink the wine through most of the next day. My own solution to this problem has been to simply avoid wines with added sulfites. But this device is an innovative technological solution to the problem I have with sulfite-heavy wines - but it's a pricey solution. The good news is that, at least for me, the Üllo Wine Purifier works as advertised. I bought a bottle of wine that I had liked in the past - one that had given me a terrible headache. I did a "before" taste to make sure I wasn't able to detect changes in taste (there were none that I could detect) and enjoyed three glasses without any reaction whatsoever. So I'll buy-in to the concept. But I also have some criticisms of some things that should have been remedied by now (this is not the initial rollout of this device). The device uses filter packs filled with a substance that binds with the sulfites and nothing else in the wine - effectively removing the preservative from the liquid. Each filter is only good for treating a single bottle of wine and replacement filters are kinda expensive. The filters, which look like round raviolis, have a top and a bottom that should be marked - as they are, you have to look at each filter from the side to determine by a subtle shape difference which side goes "up" and which side goes "down". Also, the filters are loosely packed which means that the filtering material can collect in one side, thereby preventing the other side from doing its work - especially after the filter has been on its side while you're removing it from it's sealed foil packaging. So the filter alone appears to have two potential problems that could limit its effectiveness. The device also has a aeration feature that I don't think does anything to aerate the wine - it twirls the wine through concentric spiraling tubes but if there's no air in those tubes then they aren't aerating. Maybe it's trying to compete with the wine aeration gimmicks on the market but I'm not convinced that the aeration feature is even a feature. Finally, aside from losing a little bit of wine to the filter pack, which is to be expected, the shape of the device itself seems to hold more than a few drops of wine back and I couldn't figure out a simple way to swirl that wine down through the filter. Surely there could be a better design of the top chamber? I would probably have given the Üllo Wine Purifier two stars on design and performance overall if it weren't for the excellence in design of the chemical filter that is central to the device. But the company needs to fix some serious flaws in the surrounding hardware!

This thing is very simple and easy to use. It takes about 30 seconds to put a filter in and snap it back together. The wine comes through fairly quickly, about 5 to 10 seconds for 4 ounces. A taste test on a cheap bottle of a California pink moscato had the Ullo removing a bit of the tart bite and rubbing alcohol flavor/aroma common to inexpensive wines resulting in a lighter, smoother body to the wine. My question is, when the 4 supplied filters for filtering four 750ml bottles are gone, and you pay around 3 bucks each for the replacements...are you going to wonder if you should have gotten a more expensive bottle of wine. Bottom line though--the Ullo looks cool, seems well made and is very easy to use, and seemed to do it's job well. If the filters were less expensive I'd give it the 5th star.