Sophisticated Technology Keeps Premium Wines Perfect from the First Glass to the Last Drop
Willamette Valley Vineyards Founder Jim Bernau Showcases the Bio-Casks
PORTLAND, Ore.— El Gaucho is raising a glass to an exciting development that is poised to revolutionize the wine industry.
Willamette Valley Vineyards has launched “Bio-Cask,” and El Gaucho Portland is the first restaurant anywhere to feature the winery’s new wine-casking technology. A stainless steel cask that contains the equivalent of 26 (750 ml.) bottles, the wine-preserving Bio-Cask is designed to connect with a restaurant’s tap system to provide high-quality wines by the glass to the customer at an approachable price. The technology keeps each successive glass as fresh as the first.
Bio-Cask benefits the guest, the restaurant, the winery and the planet:
- Increases quality and consistency of the wine
- Is a simple system that utilizes existing tap technology and widely available gasses
- Is waste-free
- Is ecologically friendly
Says Chad Mackay, president and CEO of Mackay Restaurants, “This is an exciting development because it drives down the cost of wine for everybody involved by eliminating the extra materials. We’re introducing Bio-Cask in El Gaucho Portland, but we have plans to expand the technology into our other locations.”
Oregon is a famously “green” state, and Willamette Valley Vineyards is a participant in the Oregon winery Carbon Neutral Challenge. President Jim Bernau came up with the concept of the Bio-Cask during the winery’s early efforts to achieve carbon neutrality in 2009.
Over its estimated 10-year lifespan, each slim, sleek Bio-Cask will replace 327 cases of traditionally packaged wine, thereby eliminating the need for: 3,924 glass bottles, corks and metal cork caps; 7,848 labels and adhesive; cardboard boxes; wooden pallets; and the plastic wrap to secure packed boxes for transport. Not only does the Bio-Cask virtually eliminate materials that would otherwise end up in landfills or require recycling, but the reduced per-unit weight translates to a markedly smaller carbon transportation footprint, the single most significant impact on the environment for the wine industry as a whole.
The selections currently being served at El Gaucho Portland from the Bio Cask tap system include:
Willamette Valley Vineyards, Pinot Noir 2008 (Willamette Valley), $14 per glass
and
Troon Vineyard, Trifecta Red 2008 (Oregon), $10 per glass
“These highly food-friendly wines are on the menu right now and are pouring beautifully. Our guests know we’d only offer them the best, and they’ve embraced both the wines and the concept. Perceptions are changing rapidly about wine packaged in non-traditional ways. What’s so terrific about Bio Cask is that it offers significant ecological benefits without sacrificing a fraction of an ounce of quality,” says El Gaucho Portland Wine and Cigar Captain Leann Loveland, “and who can’t drink to that?”
Open since 2000, El Gaucho® is the Northwest's steakhouse legacy focused on elegant, old-school, tableside service for people celebrating their lives. The menu highlights 28-Day Dry-Aged Certified Angus Beef® Prime steaks, cutting edge fresh seafood selections from sustainable sources, and extensive wine and malt scotch lists. El Gaucho’s swanky bar was recently featured in Continental Airlines magazine and given the “Gold Standard” by Portland Monthly magazine. Located at 319 S.W. Broadway, El Gaucho is open Monday through Thursday 5 p.m. to midnight; Friday and Saturday 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; Sunday from 5 to 11 p.m. Happy hour is available 5 to 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. to close Monday through Friday and all day Sunday. For more information, visit www.elgaucho.com or call (503) 227-8794.
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