Inspiration for inventions often come from the strangest places. For Dick Jones, an amateur winemaker from British Columbia, it came from the human lung.

According to a report by Wine Spectator, the former professor of pulmonary medicine believes a new filter membrane specifically designed for fermenting white wine will retain more aromatics in the final product. The problem, Jones found, is that CO2 created during fermentation carries aromatic compounds out of the fermentation tank leaving his homemade wine—white wine in particular—smelling flat.

Then in 2012 Jones read about a new membrane developed in Norway designed to scrub CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants. Drawing on his experience in pulmonary medicine, Jones believed the membrane could allow wine fermenters to “breathe” in much the same way as human lungs, allowing carbon dioxide to escape while keeping everything else in. May-Britt Hägg, the Norwegian scientist who developed the membrane agreed, and worked with Jones to create the AromaLoc wine filter.