VinPerfect's founder, Tim Keller, worked as a winemaker before starting the Company. In this role, he became aware of the benefits and disadvantages of the prevailing wine closures: natural cork, synthetic cork, and screwcaps. Each of these closures has at least one fatal flaw. Natural cork lets in random amounts of oxygen, and wine bottled under cork is susceptible to "cork taint" from the chemical compound TCA. Synthetic cork lets in far too much oxygen – dramatically shortening a wine's shelf life. Screwcaps do not allow enough oxygen to enter the wine, which limits the ability of the wine to mature and develop in the bottle.

 

Tim envisioned a closure which combined the primary benefit of cork – post bottling oxygen ingress, with the consistency and simplicity of a screwcap. He wanted a closure which avoided the disadvantages of natural cork, synthetic cork, and existing screwcaps. This closure would permit small, discreet amounts of oxygen to enter the bottle, helping the wine mature and develop.

 

To achieve his vision, Tim invented a liner for the standard 30x60 ROPP screwcap which allows for controlled amounts of post-bottling oxygen ingress. He founded VinPerfect in 2008 to bring this vision to the market. The patent-pending SmartCap™ was launched in 2011.