So what do you get the wine enthusiast who seemingly has everything for Christmas? WINESAVE of course – so they can start their very own wine bar at home!

With the very nature of wine appreciably less intimidating nowadays and a growing familiarity amongst the populace, a glass of wine is increasingly becoming a part of everyday life around the world.

Today’s more self-assured, open-minded wine consumer has a considerably larger vinous world to explore with a myriad of regions, varieties and styles.

As any wine marketer will acknowledge, wine consumers are at their most inquisitive and adventurous in a restaurant environment or wine bar and willing to try something new, most likely served by the glass.

Indeed, serving wine by the glass or even tasting portions is universally transforming wine service and consumption patterns giving the consumer a greater choice of wines to discover moreover, promoting the pairing of wines to specific dishes and enhancing the homogeneous synergies of enjoying wine with food.

This is where restaurants, wine bars and hotels have had the distinct advantage over the home consumer in rationalizing thousands of dollars for commercial wine preservation systems such as the high-tech Enomatic www.enomatic.co.nz which utilizes the indispensible inert noble gas argon; being colorless, odorless and flavorless, protects the wines essential qualities for more than 3 weeks.

Imagine though, if you could take this same approach at home and depending on your mood or what you were eating, you could choose from a range of wines – by the glass! Or even the very notion that you can open up a bottle wine anytime and not feel compelled to drink all of it.

Obviously this would normally pose a problem with the opened bottles going off, as wines main enemy is air; more specifically exposure to oxygen and subsequently spoilage by premature oxidization.

However, an innovative Australian company, winesave www.winesave.com has introduced ground-breaking technology that successfully dispenses food-grade argon in an effective and affordable canister.

No doubt there will be some consumer skepticism with the very mention of ‘gas’ however, argon has been used in wineries and food production for many years and is a completely natural product coming from the very air we breathe, and obtained by modern methods of liquefaction of gases and fractional distillation.

Argons most exceptional quality is it combines with nothing; an atom that is totally resistant to bonding with other elements and being two and half times heavier than air, simply falls down displacing the harmful oxygen, forming an impenetrable layer between the wine and air.

With the wine bottle kept upright and relatively cool, the barrier of argon will preserve wine perfectly for many weeks, indeed months. I have personally trialed winesave for several months on a wide range of grape varieties, styles and bottle age; from young and relatively fragile aromatic white wines to completely mature vintages of red wines, even a 1977 Vintage Port.

The results were conclusive if not astounding with not one wine showing any sign of deterioration at all. Even after opening and resealing several times, all kept perfectly for over 2 months, and some improved!

All technology has its evolutionary process and competing products and applications. In the area of wine preservation there has been a multitude of devices touted over the years, with limited success and inadequacies leading to consumer indifference.

The most commercially popular alternative to displacing harmful oxygen without using an inert gas has been inducing a vacuum, or extracting the air by a hand pump pioneered by Vacu Vin www.vacuvin.com. At its inception in 1986, it was unquestionably revolutionary and now boasts a consumer base of “30 million households in more than 75 countries throughout the world.”

There is however industry consensus that such hand pump operated systems do not accurately measure the vacuum pressure and arguably detrimental to the wine, certainly questionable in a commercial application.

That said one of the front runners of the vacuum method, Le Verre de Vin www.pouringforprofits.com has developed technology “precisely measuring the vacuum needed to provide maximum preservation whilst at the same time retaining the flavours within the wine.”  However, putting this in to perspective, it is a commercial application running into several thousand pounds sterling.

There is also another new Australian innovation (seems to be an obsession down-under) called Wine Shield www.winepreserva.com, a plastic disc inserted in the bottle that floats on the surface creating a barrier between the wine and the air space claiming to “Significantly slow oxidation”, “… keeping wine fresh for up to 5 days.” At face value, an affordable and practical application although conjectural and clearly has its limitations.

Appreciating that there is palpable consumer disconnect with wine technology – although I personally await the Star Trek Replicator, dialing up a rare vintage by “rearranging subatomic particles” – the simplicity, affordability, natural qualities of argon and winesave technology is a watershed development that will revolutionize wine consumption at home, and anywhere wine is served – by the glass.

Moreover, winsave is the perfect Christmas present for wine enthusiasts, even for those wine connoisseurs who we struggle to find the appropriate gift. winesave retails for around S$38 in Singapore a canister or A$28 in Australia and is widely available through merchants around the world, visit their website for stockists www.winesave.com or have your local merchant write to winesave for trade enquiries.

What the experts say

I opened a bottle of Hunter Shiraz to taste in late November and immediately closed with winesave™. Just opened it to have a look (2.5 months later) and the wine is as fresh as a daisy. Ben Edwards, President, Sommeliers Australia, Consultant sommelier, Editor The Wine Guide

I’m happy to open a really good bottle if I feel like a glass or two when otherwise I probably wouldn’t through fear of not wanting to waste the remainder. Stephen James, Manager-Winemaking and Viticulture, Voyager Estate

At last an effective wine saver that really works! it just happens to be called “winesave ”. I have been carrying out some tests with grand crus etc and because it is Argon and sits atop the wine I have had no problems with wines stored up to 10 days. Greg Melick, Vigneron and International Wine Judge

I tried it on the most fragile wine in my portfolio – one that is always undrinkable the day after opening. I had a third of a bottle left over at 5pm, winesaved it then looked at it three or four days later and it was perfect. I want all my sales reps using it. David Burkitt, Vintage & Vine

We have been using winesave™ for a few months now and think it is great. Mark Best, Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide’s 2010 Chef of the Year Three-hatted Marque Restaurant

“winesave has absolutely revolutionized the way we serve wine in this restaurant. And it has totally eliminated waste for us. Wonderful. Michelle Lynch, Lento, South Yarra, Australia.

Thank you for introducing us here at Village Roadshow to your wonderful product. With over 20 wines by the glass in our 9 locations wastage was one of our biggest issues….no longer since the introduction of winesave™. It has changed our world for the better!” Fab Nicolao, Director, Food & Beverage, Village Roadshow Cinemas, Australia

“I reckon I’ve mentioned this in a past email, but I’ve been having such a good time with the gadget that I figured it was worth another plug. Being, at best, a half-bottle over-dinner chap I’m traditionally quite cautious about what bottles I open (particularly on a school night). And while I maintain a healthy skepticism about most wine gadgets, I’m happy to admit the merit in this one. It keeps most bottles looking fresh and drinkable for well past a week. The wines certainly change somewhat – just as they do in the glass – but they maintain their vitality. I guess the wine-adventurous could have several bottles on the go at once … a sort of at-home-wine-bar!” Tony Harper, The Wine Emporium Weekly Newsletter, Australia.

‘Winesave allows us to offer more wines by the glass, it guarantees consistent quality for extended periods of time after the wine is open’ Marcus Boyle, Restaurant Manager of Tippling Club Singapore.