By Annette Shailer
Australian patented wine preservation innovator, Wine Preserva, has secured $2.3m in venture capital from Innovation Capital, on top of a further $400 000 from existing shareholders.
Wine Preserva, developed by founder and CEO, Barry Rees, is a simple but effective solution to wine oxidation designed to eliminate the wastage of wine on-premise, which is estimated at 10 to 15 percent.
The product is a disk system inserted in an open bottle of wine to act as a lid on the liquid’s surface.
The disk preserves the flavour and aroma of open wine for up to five days, preventing costly wine wastage.
Wine Preserva first entered the Australian market following its win on ABC TV’s The New Inventor’s in 2007, which addressed the market potential to replace the existing gas or vacuum pump oxidation systems which can remove the wine’s aroma and are more costly and time intensive to operate.
Following targeted distribution and successful trials in Australia, New Zealand and the US, there is now significant interest from Spain, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Holland and the UK.
Wine Preserva will use this new funding injection to expand its manufacturing and distribution capabilities to meet the future projected demand from the wine and hospitality industries globally, and to radically reduce cost by automated production.
Successful testing of the product in Australia by Provisor Laboratories has proven Wine Preserva’s ability to keep wine fresh by up to five days after opening.