a husband and wife team has turned its passion for a fine vintage into a business by creating a light to help when decanting red wine.
suzi taylor and dr peter lacey came up with the idea – which has led to the creation of their brand pourvin – while using the traditional practice of candlelight to see sediment during the decanting process, which has its downsides.
“there seemed to be a need to help in decanting red wine,” says co-creator and director, taylor. “one time we were actually in france and it was a breezy evening, the windows were opened and it kept blowing the candle out and peter was trying to decant a 1982 pomerol… we had this idea that if we use an led light it’d be a constant source of light and it really helped this process. so it was born out of need and out of interest and fascination and helping the decanting process.”
the couple developed the light over two years with the help of sydney-based industrial design firm tiller design. they are launching it in australia first as the country has been their home for the past 15 years, though they have recently moved back to lacey’s home country the uk.
“australia is the first to see it…. we will be selling the product online [on] our website pourvin.com and for our very special australian clientele we will be shipping from a sydney distribution point, so they’ll be able to get it very quickly… probably quicker than anywhere else in the world,” she adds.
“we’re really proud because we’ve been working in australia for so long and developing this product here to have it in australia first.” while the product is not currently available for wholesale taylor says there is potential for retailers to stock it if the light is a hit and believes the product would be best suited for homewares and design stores.
“there are a lot of different things that appeal,” she explains. “the first thing is obviously wine accessory type home and lifestyle shops but there are also design shops… certainly here in sydney, there’s the beautiful shops that have just products of all different types and styles from lamp shades to beautifully designed chairs, so all of this product fits into that high end design type retailer as well as you’re very traditional wine accessory type high end retailer.”
more products are on the way for taylor and lacey under their brand pourvin, especially if reaction to their light is anything to go by.
“the response has been sheer amazement that something like this doesn’t exist and that it’s so beautiful, because the design of it is made to be aesthetically quite stunning, it feels good in the hand, it’s easy to use, it’s battery operated and so the first reaction has been ‘wow that is a gorgeous piece of art’.
“the second reaction certainly from the industry – people that really know wine whether it’s a sommelier, somebody in the wine education or restaurant business, or people that make or retail wine – the reaction has been quite positive,” says taylor.
