cork – Backerjack

Corked and sealed wine lasts forever. However, as soon as it’s unsealed, it begins to go bad. The only way to tell if it’s bad is to taste it. While it’s not as bad as spoiled milk, that sour taste can still put one off of wine entirely for the night.

Vini never wants a bad bottle of wine to be tasted ever again. This digital monitor tests wine to figure out if it’s still good to drink. Looking like a meat thermometer, place Vini in the wine and push the button. First, it’ll display the wine’s temperature. With another tap of the button, it will show its pH level. To the layman, this information may not mean much, but Vini comes with a chart to help interpret the data. In addition, Vini is a bottle stopper, so it serves more than just to taste wine for you.

For wine enthusiasts, Vini is an extremely useful device. This product certainly has potential in the market because those who love wine, really love wine and will do anything for the perfect glass. Backers can have their own for $40 CAD (~$35 USD) for delivery in July 2015. Vini is looking to raise $40,000 CAD (~$35,000 USD) on Kickstarter.

The Premise. Ever had to transport a bottle of wine that was already open even though that’s against the law in a lot of places? Or have a problem with your wine stopper making your wine bottle too tall for the fridge?

The Product. Wine condoms are small, black, rubber instruments designed to be rolled over the top of an open wine bottle and keep the wine fresh and from spilling in transport. To anyone in the restaurant industry, they look just like one of the finger cots they give you when you cut your digits and slap on a Band-Aid. But, sure, wine condom.

The Pitch. Hmm, where to start? Well, the video starts off with handsome young inventor Mitchell Strahan explaining why wine condoms only work for wine and not champagne. See, when you apply the wine condom to champagne, the carbonated gasses (with a little help from a vigorous shake or two) will cause the wine condom to blow off. Okay dude — we get it. The video then cuts to a closeup of Strahan and his girlfriend, where he flutters his light blue eyes and tells the story of his mother bringing over an open bottle wrapped in cling film and rubber bands and then spends about a minute on a blooper reel where he goes off on a tangent, giggles, and talks to someone off-camera. It’s all very cute if you go in for that kind of pitch.

The Perks. The young man seems to be aware of how much people would be willing to pay for his product — donors get a pack of ten for $7, 25 for $14. After that, he’s got a fair amount of swag — sunglasses, shirts, hats, and even signed photos of himself (yes, really — he’s pretty, sure, but goodness!). Each level-up includes all of the previous, so donors can potentially end up with a good bit of Mitch-merch.

The Potential. The wine condom serves a useful purpose and is easily stored but, much to the chagrin of double entendre fans, faces an uphill battle against default capping measures. Most people who open wine can either pop the cork back in, screw on the screw cap, or use a wine stopper. On the other hand, we could see a lot of jokes being made while applying the Wine Condom, especially after a few glasses have been refilled.