Chagrin Falls-based company’s product aims to preserve wine in your bottle

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio – Gary Gottfried is on a mission to make sure you never, ever open a bad bottle of wine.

Armed with business experience in the food industry, marketing know-how and a bit of chemistry knowledge, Gottfried co-founded Silvadore Wine Essentials.

The argon-based system preserves opened bottles of wine. It’s a simplified and affordable product, but there was one problem: The product was launched during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Because of Covid, the product was targeted at retail first, since restaurants were in survival mode. The retail product designed for consumers is smaller than the one geared for restaurants.

“Think of aluminum cannisters like a can of hair spray or mousse,” he said. With the cannister, “you take a value and an actuator and fill it with argon. Now you have a product that can be sprayed into the bottle and basically preserve the wine. The cannister is filled with 100 percent argon, and argon is the magic ingredient.”

He added: “Argon is what causes preservation. It’s physics and chemistry.”

He said you put the nose into the bottle and spray it – two quick bursts – and a gas is released. That creates a layer. Argon, an inert gas, is heavier than oxygen, which is what you are trying to protect against.

“It creates a blanket,” Gottfried said. “All you need is a blanket to create a barrier between the oxygen touching the wine and the wine itself.”

You then recork the bottle, put the screwcap back on, or use a decorative stopper. But actually, he said, that gas will sit there – “it’s not going to jump out of the bottle.” (Technically, he said, you don’t have to put any top on, because the argon is not going anywhere. But it’s recommended to avoid anything going into the bottle, like fruit flies.)

Gottfried has a varied background, having worked with Oscar Meyer and Kraft Foods. He served as Cleveland Browns marketing director from 1992 to 1996. And he maintains an array of food-association connections. He is working with Heinen’s and Vintage Wine Distributor, and is talking with wineries as well.

Co-founder Jim Bartlett deals with the internal operations of the company while Gottfried handles more of the “outside” business. The company also markets stain remover and a polishing cloth with co-partners.

“We’re starting to see a little bit more emphasis through the restaurant side,” Gottfried said about the wine-preservation product, adding it would be a boon for by-the-glass options. It also would help restaurant business via the “Merlot to go” bill, which allows a customer to order a bottle of wine and, if it isn’t finished, have it sealed to go. Previously, before the legislation was enacted, the bottle had to be finished or left.

It also would apply to winery tasting rooms. Tasting-room workers often mark bottles with the date the bottle was opened, and then have to try a sip to make sure it is up to standards. (Yes, they spit because they open so many during the day.)

Gottfried respects Coravin, a similar device on the market. But while Coravin’s line of products is extensive, it is expensive and involves argon cartridges. Silvadore’s product – which is manufactured in Hermitage, Pennsylvania – is self-contained.

By itself, argon can be expensive, he said, but “we actually have a lot more volume of the gas in our cans.”

Each of Silvadore’s retail-sized cannisters can hold “plus or minus 40″ uses. The cannisters can be recycled but not refilled. The number depends on how heavy a hand someone has with the spray. The larger restaurant version can hold about 100 applications.

It lasts a minimum of two weeks on the wine. Cannisters should be usable for a couple of years. Retail-size cost is $14.95.

Gottfried said other applications exist. You can open a variety of wines around, say, the Thanksgiving table, and not worry about them being finished right away. Also, high-end cooking oils like truffle oil, which have a shelf life and can be expensive, can be preserved as well using the Silvadore preserver.

The three things that hurt wine and oils, he said, are temperature, ultraviolet light and oxygen. So seek out a cool place, in the dark, out of direct light, and protect it with the gas, he said. (That trio of elements also adversely affects beer.)

Know this: While the product prevents oxidation in liquid, he said, it isn’t meant to preserve effervescence of sparkling wine. That’s a different challenge.

“So much of this is education and familiarity,” said Gottfried, who said the product – a light aluminum can holding gas – is extremely light.

“That sometimes can be confusing to somebody picking it up – ‘Is there really something in here?’ ” he said.

I am on cleveland.com’s life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. If you want to see my stories, here’s a directory on cleveland.com. Bill Wills of WTAM-1100 and I talk food and drink usually at 8:20 a.m. Thursday morning. Twitter: @mbona30.

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