When trying to keep wine fresh after being opened, it's important to limit the wine's exposure to oxygen left inside the bottle. As a result, we've seen vacuum pumps that draw air out of bottles, along with bladders that displace the air by inflating to fill its space. QikVin offers an interesting new alternative, in the form of a vessel that gets "smaller" as wine is poured out.
Users start by unscrewing the gasket-sealed top of the QikVin, then pouring a bottle of wine into it. They then replace the top, and push up on the piston/bottom to force out the air – a one-way valve in the neck allows air and wine to get out but keeps air from coming in, creating a vacuum.
From there, that vacuum keeps the piston sitting up against the "underside" of the wine as it's poured, holding the liquid up against the top of the vessel with no room for air above it. The system is demonstrated in the video below.
Inventor Harald Tomesch tells us that the product should sell for about US$99, although backers can grab one for as little as $55 in a Kickstarter campaign starting sometime next month. If you're interested in getting one, keep an eye on the company website to see when it begins.
You might also want to check out the Wine Squirrel, which is sort of an upside-down version of the QikVin.
Source: QikVin
