A mother-and-son team from Texas have pioneered a new approach to wine closures: the wine condom. In the year since inspiration struck, they‘ve been busy raising funds and forging joint ventures – and dealing with the kind of international attention the big closure companies dream of.
“We’re just crazy thrilled by the attention it’s getting,” says inventor Laura Bartlett.
Dealing with leftovers
A year ago, Bartlett was at a neighbour’s place for dinner and the neighbour told her to take the leftover wine home. “She lost the cork and to seal it for that short trip from her house to my kitchen, she put saran wrap and rubber bands around it,” says Bartlett. “I was talking to my son in the kitchen about it.”
And that’s when the idea of putting a condom over the bottle to protect the remnants hit them. What Bartlett and her 21-year-old son Mitchell Strahan have since created is a rubber sealant that’s rolled down the neck of an open bottle. This means a partially-consumed bottle can be carried from one place to another without spillage. They don’t claim the condom will preserve the wine or prevent oxidation. “It’s an excellent wine stopper,” says Bartlett. “We’ve been able to turn the bottle upside down without spillage.”
Bartlett says her son has already found a rubber manufacturer to make the item. “One of the challenges for rolled rubber products is that it’s nearly impossible to find something that’s not oiled or powdered,” says Bartlett.
She envisages the wine condom as a promotional item, with wineries and restaurants able to print their logos on it. Bartlett says it will allow customers to take unfinished bottles of wine home – which could encourage them to order whole bottles, rather than wine by the glass. “We see that hotel chains and cruise lines would be good partners,” she says. “We also see there are some licensing opportunities with global brewers. The condom fits beer bottles, so it can be used for wine or beer.”
To raise the start-up funds, Strahan started a campaign on kickstarter.com, the crowdfunding site where entrepreneurs present their ideas to the public and ask for funding, usually in exchange for a product sample. Strahan was seeking $7,500, but by the time the offer closed in February, had raised $9,285.
“Obviously we need to fulfil those orders,” says Bartlett. “That will be our first task, and then after that the next order of business is investigating and pursuing those partnerships that we already have in mind.”
Barlett says that if she’d had any idea of the interest the wine condom would generate, she would not have limited deliveries to the United States. “It was a rookie error,” she says. “We’ve had enquiries from Western Australia, from Britain, and from a winery in southern Spain.”
Rapid implementation
In less than a year, Bartlett and Strahan have gone from chatting in the kitchen to brokering partnerships with manufacturers and international customers. Does Bartlett have a background in product design or development?
“I’m a stand-up comedian,” she says. A native of Texas, she’s executive producer of a show called Four Funny Females. “My family is chock full of doctors,” she says. “My dad’s a plastic surgeon, my other sister is a lawyer, and I’m the wine condom inventor and stand-up comedian.” She says she entered comedy later in life. “I’m a single mom so I waited until it wouldn’t compromise my parenting.”
Strahan, her son, has recently quit his job as a waiter to work on the business full time. The whole thing sounds, in fact, like good material for one of her comedy routines. Bartlett turns serious. “I have referenced it in my stand up, but what’s really cool is that we’re the first to incorporate the word ‘condom’ into a common mainstream product.” She suggests this may do some good, by giving the word mainstream usage. “Bill and Melinda Gates have championed worldwide acceptance and destigmatisation of the word ‘condom’ and we may have contributed to that. And if the bottle is sealed with our condom, we may prevent the cascading effect of drinking too much wine.”
And as for her own wine background?
She says that there’s always wine after her shows. “I enjoy wine, but I’m not a wine connoissuer,” she says. “I like blended reds. I’m the average supermarket wine consumer and that’s who we’re targeting. The average.”
Now that the kickstarter campaign is over and the duo have raised more money than they expected, the hard work is about to begin. Strahan has taken on the task of packaging and product design. Bartlett is in charge of marketing and media relations. There is development, production and licensing to deal with. The name ‘wine condom’ has been trademarked, but a patent is still pending.
And, of course, there’s the tag line to think of. Protection for wine lovers? Think outside the bottle?
Or perhaps: “Drink responsibly. Use proper protection. Use wine condoms.”
