Starting in 2010, Jerome’s began to take necessary steps to add back profits and decrease expenses in light of fewer customers walking through the restaurant’s doors. One particular volatile area of the restaurant that the general manager of Jerome’s was concerned about was its wine program. Jerome’s had an extensive wine list of over 75 bottles, with a float of approximately 40 bottles being incorporated in its wines-by-the-glass program.

According to the G.M., “Once the recession hit, we saw a dramatic decrease in wine sales; but more particularly with the lunch time crowd and full bottle sales. We saw a greater demand for our wines-by-the-glass but not enough to justify maintaining such a wide variety.” The G.M. confirmed that its wine by the glass program experienced wine wastage on the higher side of the industry reported norm of 5-15%, whereas before the recession, it was on the lower end.

Ultimately, the restaurant owners decided to decrease the wine list and wines-by-the-glass program. Unfortunately, whereas once Jerome’s was known for a great wine selection, the decision had a negative impact on the perception of the restaurant. A favorite with locals and tourists alike, Jerome’s understood the value of its wine program, both in terms of prestige and profits, but couldn’t find a way to bring the program back to life.

The Challenge
Prior to the economic downturn, previous attempts of wine preservation involved James utilizing various wine pumps and argon/nitrogen gas canisters. The self-enclosed gas system was not practical given the cost, the size, and limited functionality of a system.

However, after coming to the conclusion that wine pumps did not work properly (and only succeeded in pulling out the ‘nose’ of the wine with “extremely limited effectiveness”) and not feeling secure in having patrons ingest the gas or not knowing if the product was utilized properly, James was resigned to the fact that the restaurant was “stuck with not having proper wine preservation” and forced to throw away wine that did not keep fresh. Now, during the recession, experiencing declining wine revenues as a result of fewer patrons and a scaled back wine program, Jerome’s is now forced to figure out a way to enhance its wine program and reduce it expenses related to wine spoilage.

The Solution
In late 2010, while visiting a restaurant trade show, Jerome’s owners came upon the Wine Shield, a safe and efficacious wine preservation system made from 100% FDA-approved food contact safe material and BPA-free. Upon receiving samples and, as he stated “being completely skeptical of it,” James took two bottles of the same wine, poured out a glass from each, and deployed the Wine Shield in one of the bottles.

Over the course of several days, James performed the taste test. James first comparison taste took place at the 12-hour mark, mentioning that this was the usual time between dinner service and the following lunch service, and found that the bottle with the Wine Shield was still fresh while the one without was close to becoming unservable. James admitted that if the bottle was not finished at the next service, it would be thrown away, which was more likely to happen given the decreased demand for a glass of wine a lunch time.

James then concentrated on the bottle with the Wine Shield which held up over the course of 5 days. James said, “if I have a bottle of wine open for more than 5 days, I have no business serving it; but, admittedly, I bet the wine could still hold up for a few more days with the Wine Shield.” James immediately placed an order and now used the Wine Shield at the end of every evening in each of its open bottles of wine.

After a 2-month test period, Jerome’s started to expand its wine-by-the-glass program, offering multiple varietals and higher price point wines once again. With Wine Shield, they have consistently experienced less than 1% wine spoilage, with James proudly stating, “where we used to lose profit with each bottle, even before the downturn, we are now maximizing every ounce of wine poured. The minimal investment in Wine Shield has paid huge dividends by adding back to the bottom line. We couldn’t get this return on any of the other preservation methods.”

As the owner of a wine bar that pours more than sixty wines by the glass, it is my job to ensure that these wines are fresh and represent themselves as well as possible. Over the past twelve years we have experimented with vacuum systems, pumps and inert gases in an attempt to preserve the lifespan of our open bottles of wine. Too often we ended up dumping wine down the drain that had become oxidized after only a few days open.
 

About eight months ago we tried a product known as ‘The Wine Shield’ which is placed in an open bottle to block the effects of oxygen. The shield is easy to use in a high volume situation and has proved to greatly lengthen the life of an open wine. As a manager, it is simple to check through the open wines to make sure that a shield is in place. As a business owner it saves money to serve wine rather than dump it.
 

After testing and trying many methods of preserving open wine I am confident that we have found a great solution in the Wine Shield.

You’re probably asking “Beau, did it work or not?”. The answer is yes, the Wine Shield does preserve your wine for longer than a few days. I tested it with a couple of wines, one white and one red and randomly taste-tested each wine over the course of five days. By the fifth day the wines were noticeably tired yet compared to my control bottle, they were just fine to drink.

Read the complete review by clicking here.

One area that’s booming is wine “preservation.” No one, least of all restaurants, wants to waste wine. Still, restaurants end up pouring out between 5 and 15 percent of their wine, said Aaron Snyder of Wine Shield.

While other companies displayed sleek, temperature-controlled wine preservation and dispensing machines, which can cost as much as $20,000, Snyder, of Las Vegas, presented a lower-tech and, he said, more effective option. The flexible Wine Shield, made of a food-grade material, acts as a floating lid inside the open bottle, preventing oxidation and keeping wine tasting fresh for five days – and even longer for refrigerated white wines. The shields are sold online (buywineshield.com) in packs of 10 for $9.95.

Click here to read the complete article

Winestate Magazine’s Peter Jackson conveyed the results of a trial of the Wine Shield system:

I would like to update you on the success of the Wine Shield product that was trialled at two recent events.

The first event was the Winestate World Cabernet Challenge that was held in Adelaide earlier this month.

Over 400 Cabernet and Bordeaux blends including the new release Chateaux Lafite, Latour and Rothschild were tasted along wtih dozens of super premium Australian Cabernets. Added to this mix were imports from Spain, Argentina and South Africa. Wine Shield was tested with many of these wines having 4-6 days in an opened bottle between judging and the public tastings.

The second major event was VinItaly – the world’s largest wine show held in Verona, Italy from April 7-11. Several wines were opened on the first morning of the show, tasted and then not finished until day 5.

In both cases there was no marked deterioration noted in any of the wines tested. Consumers as well as experienced sommeliers could not fault the wines.

Wine Shield is a delightfully simple and cost-effective product – it works!

Wine community Bottlenotes featured Wine Shield in their The Daily Sip column under the Tips & Tools tag:

All too often the mood strikes us to open a good bottle of wine. And somewhere between the second glass and the end of Top Chef, we realize it’s time for bed and half the bottle remains unconsumed. So it’s decision time. Options:

• Stay up through Stewart and Colbert, and just finish the bottle.
• Stick the bottle in the fridge–which might only help prevent oxidation a little.
• Pour the remainder into an empty half bottle and recork it–a great solution if you actually have an empty half bottle on hand.
• Use the Wine Shield, a plastic film that slips into the bottle easily and acts as a barrier between the remaining wine and the air in the bottle–thus preventing oxidation.

We take the last one. And we’re true believers in this innovation since we tried it on a bottle of Oregon Pinot Gris last week, then just left the bottle sitting out for a couple days. While the Wine Shield doesn’t look terribly appealing, sort of like one of George Costanza’s pudding skins floating on top of your wine, we found that the wine tasted every bit as fresh and vibrant as when we first cracked the screw cap.

Click here to read the complete review at Bottlenotes.com

Prominent wine blogger and industry expert Jeff Lefevere of GoodGrape.com published this review of Wine Shield at his portal:

Using two bottles of an identical red blend (the appropriately called HOUSE WINE from The Magnificent Wine Company), I put a half bottle under the Wine Shield for five days and tasted it against a freshly opened bottle.

Color me surprised. I’m an avowed Vacuvin and refrigeration guy, so the notion of keeping a bottle of wine out on the countertop created more than a hint of skepticism. Yet, five days later not only was the wine preserved by the Wine Shield perfectly potable, but I’d dare say that is had imperceptible levels of degradation. It merely tasted as if it had been nicely decanted next to the freshly opened bottle. The nose was still delightfully intact, the fruit was abundant and the tannins had softened to a smooth, fine grain.

Click here to read the complete review at GoodGrape.com

Evan Goldstein, on the Ron Owens Show with over 1 million listeners, Friday, September 17, 2010, talking about wine preservation in the opened bottle.

There’s a couple of devices out there that work. There’s a brand new one out there that I just started playing with that I would really recommend. I actually think it’s the best one out there.

 

It’s a product called Wine Shield, and it’s this little…. little disk that’s essentially food grade plastic that comes in a little package, that… dare I say it, looks a little like a condom.

 

You open it up and just twist the thing in, and it floats down to the bottom and, sits like a little seal on the top of your wine and it’s actually better, believe it or not than the air preservation systems – whether it’s the spargeing systems or the vacuum type systems – costs about 30c per unit, but it will literally hold the wine brilliantly for about 4‐5 days without any change whatsoever. It’s the one I’m most high on right now.

 

You buy them in packets of 7‐10, something like that. You can get them at some fine wine stores – and they have a website wineshield.com and they direct you to a retailer.

 

I highly advocate it. If it’s an expensive bottle of wine, it keeps it better, integrity‐wise than anything I’ve worked with.

…What is the best way to keep an opened bottle of wine if you can’t finish it all in one sitting?

 

So far the arguments over what works have centered on several techniques, all designed to protect the wine from exposure to air, because it’s the oxygen in the headspace inside the bottle that robs a wine of its freshness.

 

A new product looks like a workable solution – at least my few experiments with it have proved successful. It’s called the Wine Shield.

 

At first I had a problem getting the shield to flop onto the surface, but once I got the technique down, it worked fine.

 

I tried the Wine Shield on three bottles – a Washington Riesling under cork, an Oregon Pinot Noir And an Australian Shiraz under twist‐off caps. I tasted a glass and poured off some more wine to leave a half‐filled bottle.

 

After about an hour, I applied the disks and stoppered the bottles. Four days later, all the wines tasted exactly as I described in my original notes.

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