Very interesting.
I'd been suggesting to ISVs that they create a single winelib dll and conditionally load that if present, but winegate.dll might be an appealing alternative.
I don't think this really brings up any security considerations but it is a reminder that Windows programs under Wine have access to the entire Linux system just like Linux programs do.
btw nice name, but it pulls up 7 million hits for me, not sure what you mean by "google doesn't reveal any other uses of the name". - Dan