Wine Preservation Systems

I was recently asked about the best way to preserve wine by one of my readers:

“I love to have one glass of wine in the evening.  It takes at least a week to drink a bottle of wine.  What is the best, inexpensive way to save a partial bottle for a week or two?”

I’ve been asked this many times, and my response is always “drink more!”.  Unfortunately there’s no great way to save wine for long.  What makes a wine go bad after opening?  Oxidation.  The less wine in the bottle, the more air in the bottle, and the faster oxidation will occur.  So unfortunately a wine’s lifespan after opening will exponentially decrease as you drink more from the bottle.  But there’s a few contraptions out there that do a decent job of helping your wine oxidize at a slower rate.  They all work by either displacing or removing the oxygen from the opened wine bottle.

The first kind, and the cheapest is the VacuVin:

Hand pumping removes air from the bottle, but I’ve never had that much luck with this type.  I think the rubber bottle stoppers tend to slowly leak, and it’s nearly impossible to remove enough air from the bottle with these things.  But it’s better than nothing.  And for under $20 it can be used many times before the rubber stoppers wear out.

The second kind, and the easiest for home use is the canister gas dispenser:

You stick the tube into the neck of your wine bottle before corking it up.  It fills the bottle with an inert gas such as Argon, which doesn’t oxidize the wine.  These usually run about $10-$15 in your local wine shop, and they last for a while.

The last type, and the best is the pressurized pump:

These are the best because you attach the pump to the bottle immediately after opening.  The inert gas creates enough pressure in the bottle to pump the wine out when you pull the dispenser.  And since you only have to expose the wine to air once when you first open it, it stays fresher much longer.  But I’ve noticed that the wine’s condition quickly deteriorates after the bottle is halfway empty.  This is also the most expensive option, usually running about $50-$70 depending where you get it from.

Here’s a few tips to help keep your opened wine longer whether you have a preservation system or not:

• Keep the wine out of sunlight.  Sun exposure will quickly deteriorate a wine (which is why most wine bottles are tinted– to block out light).
• Keep the wine at a cool temperature.  Room temp is way too warm to store wine, especially once it has been opened.  Stick the bottle in your fridge.  Although the fridge vibrates too much for long term wine storage, it works for opened bottles that will be consumed quickly.
• If the wine came with a natural cork, and you use the same cork to reseal the wine, TRY to stick the same side of the cork back in the bottle.  I know this sounds a little extreme, especially because the cork tends to expand after first opening the wine.  But the exposed end of corks can often contain molds or bacteria which negatively effect the wine.

Consider buying 1/2 bottles of wine as well.  Most nice wine shops will at least have a small selection.  If they don’t, ask them to consider carrying 1/2 bottles.  I’ve been the primary wine buyer for several restaurants, and there’s TONS of great 1/2 bottles available from the distributors.