It wasn't simply the exquisite food, which included the signature Beggar's Purses. It was the high level of service (which added an 18% service charge to the bill.. but no need for tipping), to the amazing kitchen staff (first in this country to recognize women as chefs, and to also help along the talents of Tom Colicchio, Wayne Nish and many other luminary chefs of today), the use of farm raised produce (including fruits and vegetables from the Wines’ own farm) and the magnificent and highly sophisticated presentation. All were designed to create a true dining experience that was unmatched in the United States.

Wine closed the QG at the end of 1992, when Sony purchased his lease. He immediately joined Sony as a Vice-president of Creative Projects, including the development of the Sony Club, the visionary corporate dining facility. It wasn't just because Sony is a Japanese company that Wine installed a sushi bar at the Club. It was because Wine was already fusing Japanese ingredients and flavors into his nouvelle cuisine. He began his trips to Japan and his exploration of Japanese cuisine in the early 1980s and is known for presenting visiting Japanese chefs and their tasting menus, offering Sake dinners, and being among the first non-Asian restaurants to offer a Bento box lunch.

Currently, Wine serves as a restaurant consultant to the Blackstone Group and the restaurants in their hotel properties, as well as to other restaurants including Lever House in NYC and many others. Though he had visited Korin many times purchasing various items for his own personal use, it was in consulting to Ono in NYC's Gansevoort Hotel that he began extensive buying at Korin Trading. He not only purchased knives for the staff, but helped select tableware, robata grills, table displays and serving pieces as well as the wait staff uniforms--all in keeping with the Japanese theme.

Wine received his first Japanese knives as a gift from one of Japan's most famous knife craftsmen. Those knives are sold at Korin, and Barry has not only had all of his knives sharpened at Korin by Master Knife Sharpener Chiharu Sugai, but with the gift of an ebony-handled Yanagi from Korin, he is once again adding to his knife collection.