A new wine-preserving device, Repour Smart Stopper, has been devised to help the on trade eliminate wine waste by prolonging the life of opened bottles of wine.
It is designed to remove oxygen from opened wine bottles, preserving what’s inside for more than six months.
The low-cost product has been created by US entrepreneur and chemist Tom Lutz, who has teamed up with brand and packaging design company Mayday to launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds needed to market the product by early 2017.
Repour attaches to any wine bottle and keeps wine fresh by absorbing oxygen from the air above the wine for as long as the bottle is in use, however many times it is opened and closed, and for as long as necessary, according to its creator.
Once wine has been opened, it can generally only stay fresh for a few days because oxygen is able to interact with the wine, which, after a few days, can negatively impact the flavours and aromas.
According to Lutz, “By putting our oxygen-absorbing material in the Repour smart stopper, we are able to continuously de-gas the oxygen from the air above the wine in the bottle, and from the wine itself, bringing the level of oxygen down below 0.05%
“What happens is air, which is 21% oxygen, in the headspace is completely removed of oxygen with Repour. What is left is other inert elements in the air around us (Nitrogen gas primarily), but because Oxygen is absorbed and not replaced with anything, it creates and effective ‘vacuum’.”
The product has undergone vigorous testing as an approved oxygen absorber with the FDA (The Food and Drug Administration, a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services) but it remains to be seen if the product’s bold claims would actually stand up in practice.
If successful, Repour will be available in the UK as packs of one, four and ten from early 2017, priced at £1.25 per stopper.
The Kickstarter campaign runs until 29 November. You can find out more and back the project here.
