Michael Fors

Michael A. Fors didn’t set out to build a business, he set out to solve a problem at his own table. For more than two decades, he’s gathered friends for “wine night,” a Thursday ritual that has seen everything from two people sharing a bottle by the fire to fifty guests filling his yard with music, food, and conversation. Those nights brought joy, but also had a sticking point: red wines often tasted harsh when first opened, and waiting hours for a decanter was impractical when cars kept pulling into the driveway.

The turning point came by the Gloucester shoreline, where Michael watched waves roll over rocks, breaking open the air with sea salt and seaweed aromas. He imagined wine flowing the same way, over contours that would open it naturally. A prototype made with a local metalworker proved the idea right: wine softened in minutes. That sketch of an idea became Liquid Jazz, the first patented decanter designed to bring out a bottle’s best character in four minutes.

Today, Michael speaks less as an inventor and more as a host. He shows how design can preserve the ceremony of wine without the wait, how a decanter can be as much an event piece at the table as a tool, and how traditions evolve when they’re shaped by the communities that keep them alive. In restaurants, Liquid Jazz helps sommeliers turn overlooked bottles into memorable features. At home, it sits on the bar like an art piece, ready to turn an ordinary evening into something worth lingering over.

As a podcast guest, Michael shares the story of how an everyday frustration became a patented product, why wine is as much about people as it is about grapes, and how innovation can deepen rather than replace tradition.