Cheers – The Genesis of the Wine Saver PRO

Call it a vintage solution: design/engineering/manufacturing expertise met the age-old need to preserve opened bottles of wine, making MTS the toast of wine lovers and restaurateurs alike.

Uncorked wine presents an interesting dilemma. Once the cork is pulled, the clock starts ticking on spoilage. An open bottle of wine is only drinkable for a few hours. At home, a connoisseur might just want one glass from a special bottle. In the foodservice trade a patron might have the same desire. Either way, no low-cost, reliable method existed to keep fine wines drinkable for extended periods of time. Fine wines are just too costly for many to taste and certainly too prized to waste.

Previous inventions attempted to evacuate the air from the opened bottle. It beat letting the wine continue to oxidize, but it wasn’t a totally effective method. These devices were neither particularly convenient nor attractive enough for front-of-the-house foodservice applications or many home uses.

Tim Fallon is co-owner of Wine Gadgets, the eastern Pennsylvania firm that spiked the open-bottle problem once and for all with careful, comprehensive help from MTS. “They provided the rare combination of creativity, technical know-how, sourcing, and good business sense to make the launch of Wine Saver PRO® an international success,” he said.

MTS involvement began with a cocktail-napkin sketch. It happened one night at Abruzzi on Main. As Abruzzi’s owner explained the problem, our product developer realized the opportunity. The new product should enable a lucrative new profit stream for restaurants and a much better home experience for the full spectrum of wine connoisseurs. This new concept was rapidly taking shape, the basis for an exciting and industry-changing new product.

Early in the design/development phase, argon was selected to both preserve and “tap” the wine into the glass. (Argon is the gas that winemakers use to protect their products in the cask.) Readily available standard parts were selected for the working components wherever possible. This allowed delivery of a cost effective design in rapid time. The nozzle, “the tap,” was an essential designed-from scratch-element. Fine-tuned rapid-prototyping methods allowed MTS to test multiple design iterations quickly to determine which design would meet all of the performance requirements.

Superior design yielded an attractive, polished look for Wine Saver in both the commercial version and the home models. A five-bottle commercial product was ready in time to wow visitors at the National Restaurant Association show, where it won praise as a premier equipment introduction. The same sleek design was adopted in a three-bottle version for Williams-Sonoma’s elite home kitchen customers.

Just as important to the successful launch was MTS’s ability to source product components and production assembly, controlling costs and reducing defects. Our development and management services, including package design, manufacturing assistance (with supply flow through the component manufacturers to the assembly and packaging site), and creation and provision of user manuals, were essential in creating a profitable product.

Wine Gadgets co-owner Tim Fallon has collected a mellow sampling of accolades for his product. Here are a few examples:

• “When our wines are served by the glass no one ever gets an oxidized wine, which would reflect very poorly on our brand and image.”
• “Our wine distributor is thrilled; their brands are being featured and their premium case sales have been soaring even in this difficult economy.”
• “Since we have installed your wine system we have seen a 225 percent increase in the sale of our featured selections …”
• “I use it at home and it has greatly improved my wine-tasting experience (no rush to finish that bottle, and the ability to compare five wines even when just two or three of us are together).”

With timely delivery of a fully realized product and process, Fallon himself is glad to raise a glass to MTS. “The design of the Wine Saver PRO® sets the standard for wine preservation systems in its class,” he said.