Storing an opened bottle of wine is a problem that restaurants selling wine-by-the-glass or a consumer drinking a glass or two at a time, often face. The American PresorVac system which preserves wine through removal of oxygen or adding pressure into the bottle, is an affordable system especially for stand-alone restaurants who cannot afford the prevalent expensive systems costing over ten times as much.

Photo By:: Adil Arora

Wine-by-the-glass is not only an opportunity for the restaurants to increase the wine sales volumes, it is an important factor to increase wine consumption in India as it gives the facility to the customer to try different wines without burning a hole in the pocket. It can also give the restaurant a possibility to introduce special schemes where a complimentary glass of wine is offered a part of the meal.

The problem is preservation of wine once the bottle is opened. Enomatic from Italy is a near- perfect solution. Nitrogen being the inert gas used, the problems due to the incomplete removal of oxygen with ordinary vacuum pumps is minimized, but there is always the need to replace the Nitrogen cylinder. Unfortunately, it is also prohibitively expensive, especially because of the low volumes of wine sales. Even the big hotels are not willing to buy and it has to be offered as a part of some package. We know that ‘there ain’t nothing like free lunch,’ and either the purchase department is hoodwinking the accounts department or F& B is manipulating the purchase department to get this system.

A practical solution is PresorVac- a simple, down-to-earth preservation system with no bells and whistles, which can help preserve up to 20 bottles of wine and champagne using a combination pump. As the name implies, this device builds up pressure or uses a vacuum to preserve all wines and is a truly useful product for all those who serve wines including the bubblies by ensuring that the carbon dioxide does not escape.

Weighing a total of just over 2 kgs, it can be used by anyone, it’s automatic as well as easy to use. No wonder, it is catching on fast throughout India. Sumedh Mandla, CEO of Aspri Wines marketing the product under exclusivity and who have only recently introduced it in the market, says, ‘we have already supplied the professional version to around 20 F & B outlets including Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt in Mumbai, Leela and ITC’s Gardenia in Bangalore. We have also shipped to Hyatt Regency in Delhi.’ While confirming that the Taj group has conducted the trials and found it satisfactory, Mandla asserts that within the next week, about 10 more outlets would have had it installed.

Skeptics would stress that the vacuum system cannot be as good as the nitrogen-based one. True, there would be around 5% difference in the performance based on the tests conducted by the manufacturer along with more expensive systems. But the cost difference is so huge that it is worthwhile to live with the minor aberration in the real world where the cold supply chain from winery to consumer is not perfect anyway and causes more damage to the wine. Additionally, the producer recommends it for 14-day use after opening the bottle. delWine would prefer a  one-week window.

The one-year replacement warranty makes it an ideal choice even for the wine connoisseurs like me who postpone opening their fine wine bottles they bought overseas or received as gifts. With the Rs.30,000 tag (VAT extra), this may be affordable product for consumers. At any rate, this is one product which will cause a big headache for the nitrogen-based preservative systems and will be a boon to the restaurateurs who understand wine and wish to make their restaurants a wine destination.

With a special license soon to be awarded to small standalone restaurants for Rs. 50,000- the PresorVac may become a standard item of investment for them, knowing that  the customer won’t mind ordering a glass or two, assured that the wine from the open bottle would be almost as fresh as from an unopened bottle.

For details, Contact sumedhsingh@aspri.org

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