Story Winner of the Week

The winner of this weeks story is:

 

Sean O’Cuinneagain

 

 

The idea came to them over a glass of wine.

 

 

 

A small device that would aerate red wine quickly without making a mess.

 

Sean O’Cuinneagain, owner of WineMall, an online wine retailer, had been pondering the idea for a while. But on this day while he and friend Andy Broden sipped a glass of Malbec, O’Cuinneagain sketched it out on a paper napkin.

The first version of the Vin-Aire wine aerator was born.

“We felt this was something we were passionate about,” O’Cuinneagain said. “Something we could all go in the same direction about.”

Broden, a Westchase resident and wine broker, had been selling O’Cuinneagain wine for years making him the best “partner in wine” for the venture.

“Andy had the contacts and he saw the vision,” O’Cuinneagain said.

That first sketch was about two years ago. These days, O’Cuinneagain and Broden, are steadily building up a Vin-Aire following.

Vin-Aire is primarily Internet based, but the company is in talks to sell the aerators ($29.99 each at www.vin-aire.com) in a retail setting. And former Tampa Bay Lightning hockey player Zenon Konopka, a stakeholder in the business, is using the aerator to raise money for the New York Islanders’ Children’s Foundation.

Konopka was traded to the Islanders last year. For the next month, a portion of all Vin-Aire sales will go to the foundation.

“After two years we’re so excited,” said O’Cuinneagain, a Lutz resident. “The great thing about it is it’s not just for wine connoisseurs. It’s for regular people who enjoy wine.”

On a recent day, O’Cuinneagain and his staff demonstrated how the product works. You simply place the clear Vin-Aire device over your wine glass and slowly pour the wine through the device. A “hsssss” sound can be heard as the wine aerates through the device.

It takes about 10 seconds as opposed to the hour or so it takes for red wine to aerate naturally.

By exposing wine to air, or “letting it breathe,” the wine heats up slightly allowing the aroma and ingredients to release. The result is generally a more mellow, better tasting glass of wine.

The idea is to make an $8 bottle of wine taste like a $30 bottle. The Vin-Aire isn’t the only wine aerator on the market. However, the lower price and ease of use make it a better product than its competitor, O’Cuinneagain said.

Fred Moses, a Westchase resident, was one of the first to purchase the Vin-Aire.

“When you get home from work and you want to have a glass of wine, you don’t want to have to pour it and stare at the glass for hours,” said Moses, a commercial banker.

“Your red wine taste completely different after using it,” he said. “It’s a good product.”

Sales for the Vin-Aire are steady, he says. In 2011, the company will market the product to wine stores, restaurants and bars. The European market is in their sights as well.

From a simple sketch to an intentional sensation—that is the hope.

“A lot of people have ideas but not a lot of people do them,” Broden said. “We decided to seize this opportunity."

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