Backstory
The backstory of AireWine bottle may have begun many, many years ago in London. I think I was about 16 years of age (Yes, I was born and raised in England) when I asked a young lady out to dinner. I wanted to impress her, so I booked a table at a fancy restaurant - at least it was to me at the time. When we were seated the waiter came over and asked if we would care for some wine. I had no clue about wine, but I didn’t want the young lady to know that. I looked older than I was and the lady was of legal drinking age. So I asked myself how can I order a bottle of wine knowing nothing about it and impress this young lady?
And then it came to me. I remember a number of years earlier I had been on holiday with my parents in Spain, and I remembered they had ordered a bottle of “Mateus Rose”. What I remembered most at the time was the shape of the bottle, which stood out to me. So with all the fanfare of a 16 year old wine connoisseur, I said we’d take a bottle of Mateus Rose. I'm not sure if that impressed anybody, but it certainly was an interesting start to the evening. I still don’t recall the taste of the wine, but I loved the shape of the Mateus Rose bottle. We have a bottle of Mateus Rose on display in our kitchen that I still enjoy looking at.
MANY YEARS LATER …
Many years later, I purchased a wine store in Maryland and renamed it HomePort. It was there that I ran across a Chateaunuef-du-Pape bottle. This is one beautifully designed bottle which stands out on the shelf and commands attention. The bottle basically says: I’m different, I’m quality, I’m first-class.
WHAT I OBSERVED
It was while I had the wine store that I noticed when a customer picked up a bottle of wine, they were more than likely to purchase that same bottle. I think I calculated it was over 80 to 85%. That's a staggering percentage of people who are visually influenced by what they see on the shelf. It's also interesting to note that 65% of all wine purchased in the United States is purchased by females. So looks do count!!
THIS GOT ME THINKING…WHAT IF?
I said to myself, what if you could create a bottle that stands out on the shelf and did more than just hold wine? What if a bottle could look good and actually aerate the wine as it is being poured? Well, I spoke to my three daughters about this idea, and they loved it and gave me the thumbs up to go for it. This pleased me immensely as my daughters are Millennials, which makes them an important group of wine buyers.
THUS BEGAN MY ODYSSEY
Getting a special glass bottle made is not the easiest thing to do in this world, but I was determined. O-I the largest glass company in the world was very interested in hearing my ideas as we now had a US patent on the AireWine Smart Wine Bottle and several related trademarks. Also during the same several years O-I had made major advances in glass bottle technology. Thus began a two year collaboration with O-I to build the Smart Wine Bottle I had pictured in my mind 5 years earlier.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The fact is the Smart Wine Bottle does indeed aerate wine more than any other wine bottle when it is poured into a wine glass - we call it the “POURATION” effect. I believe that we can now introduce the Smart Wine Bottle to the world.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story.
Cheers,
J. Adam Hewison
President, AireWine Company L.L.C.
jah@airewine.com
410-353-4489