Tim Fallon, President of Wine Gadgets in Allentown, has a pretty effective way of marketing his company’s signature product, WineSaver Pro. At wine tastings, he’ll uncork a new bottle of wine and place it next a bottle of the same brand that was opened two weeks before and preserved with WineSaver Pro.
“When we do the tastings with wine critics, some like the two-week old wine better than the stuff that was opened at the event,” Fallon says.
There are plenty of wine preservation systems on the market–you may have received one for a holiday gift–but none, Fallon claims, that strikes such a balance between affordability and performance as WineSaver Pro. The difference in the product is its use of an inert gas–Argon –that’s inserted into an open bottle to replace the oxygen, a necessary element in the winemaking process but an enemy with degenerative effects once a bottle is opened. Wine Gadgets’ potential was recognized by a nearly $25,000 grant from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeast Pa. earlier this month.
Wine Gadgets markets WineSaver Pro, at $1,000 considerably cheaper than other similar models, to worldwide distributors who in turn sell to restaurants and bars. It’s a five-bottle system that Fallon estimates can save restaurants big money, considering they throw away 10 percent of the wine they serve by the glass.
“Just with that, restaurants will recoup the cost of WineSaver Pro in 60 days or less,” he says. “It also allows you to serve higher-end wines by the glass.”
There’s also a smaller, three-bottle model, WineSaver Home, that retails for about $600. Fallon said the Ben Franklin grant will go toward Web site and database improvements and a survey that will determine whether Wine Gadgets can bring its manufacturing from China to Pennsylvania.
Source: Tim Fallon, President for Wine Gadgets
Writer: Joe Petrucci
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