Best Method to Preserve Wine?
 

Whether receiving wine as a gift from a hotel in my room or buying a fine wine or champagne while on a trip I often find that I am left with a half bottle that I would enjoy drinking a day or two later. Would appreciate FT member thoughts on the most effective wine preservation tools on the road?

Vacuvin is small and easy to use, works fine for ordinary wine preservation for a few days (basically pumps the air out and seals with a rubber stopper). The "best" methods are too bulky for travel and involve using gas which is restricted for air travel; you might consider them for home use, though the cost is substantial. Argon is the best, and nitrogen next best (but half the price of argon).

number_6
Thanks. I agree with you about the best methods. When packing I just find I am not likely to throw a champagne stopper not to mention a wine air pump into my luggage, but find blank stares at hotels if I inquire about either. I have had some mention compact floating plastic disks that you actually insert into the bottle and floats upon the wine separating it from the air. Any other wine loving travelers that have found simple and successful methods?

A friend of mine whom I regard as an unqualified expert on many European wines and some American varietals (with an in-house 2000 bottle wine cellar) says that this is the best wine preserver (it's an argon spray):

http://www.binnys.com/gift/Vineyard_...er_548200.html

my cellar is bigger than their cellar, and i consider myself an expert (unquallified) on almost everything. no comments on experts beyond that.

Some say nitrogen is better. Heavier than air so it displaces air in the bottle and sits above the surface, preventing the wine from oxidizing.

That said, I think its overkill and a Vacuvin will suffice. Needs some pressurised stopper for champagne and other sparklies though.

In my belly!

re wine preservation
 

Some interesting comments here and clearly an issue that the readers of this forum are interested in.

Firstly, thank you for allowing me to participate in this discussion. I wish all forum members the very best for 2011; may it bring many good bottles, peace and prosperity (not necessarily in that order!)

Let me declare my pecuniary interest in this topic as I'm one of the principals of the wine preservation solution winesave™ - www.winesave.com - which is being released in the USA now. By the way, the founder of winesave, Daryl Davies, is a retired commercial pilot with 21,000 hours of experience, including 17 years with Pan Am. He also flew George Bush snr and Barbara down to Guatemala, and spent the last 10 years of his flying life as the private pilot and manager of a BBJ for one of the world's richest men. Daryl was inspired to find a solution to the issue of wine oxidation because as a pilot, his daily wine consumption was severely restricted and he loathed wasting good wine.

My (our) respectful suggestion to anyone concerned with preventing their opened wine from oxidising is to use a gaseous solution which is pure 100% argon. This is because argon is a completely inert atomic gas and the heaviest of all gases (as per the periodic table). Being inert it will not combine with the wine unlike other gases such as nitrogen or "pea-soups" of nitrogen/argon etc. As argon is 2.5 x the weight of air, when sparged into the bottle, the air is displaced by the heavier argon, which sinks in the bottle until it hits something heavier - the remaining wine. Then the argon simply sits on top of the surface area of the wine and forms a protective barrier between the wine and the oxygen/air in the bottle's headspace.

For readers who would like to dig a little deeper into wine preservation, I'd recommend the following linked article which is the best of its type I've come across: http://bit.ly/c0IgNH.

Originally published in the Asia Sentinel, it has been written by Curtis Marsh who is one of Asia's leading wine commentators.

In respect of pumps, its been my experience and clearly that of others as well (read http://bit.ly/fWMYrW ) that pumps - simple or complex - are not as effective at extracting sufficient oxygen from the headspace to make a difference, as perhaps was thought at the time of their release. There is also the negative effect with them of removing some of the (desirable) soluble aromatics from the wine, thus in the words of some wine professionals leaving the wine "clipped" or "scalped".

Our product, winesave™, is used in some of the world's leading restaurants to protect their wines served by the glass from oxidising. We believe that the simplicity and convenience of winesave™ makes the benefits of professional standard wine preservation available to any consumer, restaurant, cellar door etc without needing to buy any proprietary hardware. I now normally have 6 or more wines at home available "by the glass" without having to worry about wastage.

I"ll be delighted to endeavour to answer any questions subsequently posted. And should any readers of this forum decide to try winesave™ and are not happy with its performance, I'll refund your money no questions asked.

Again, the very best for 2011,
Frank

Personally I swear by Vacuvin - does enough to keep wine good for a couple of days, which is all I need. After two days the wine will be drunk anyway.

Having said that there's an article that appeared this week on the Wine Spectator's website that says that the vacuum based systems for preserving wine are useless and that we'd be much better just keeping our opened bottles of wine in the fridge. It's an interesting read, also of a lot of comments: http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/44284

I watched a Wine program on PBS. It was very enlightening and funny.

Basically, the best way to preserve wine is to remove the oxygen.

What's the best way to remove the oxygen? Not by pumping it out and replacing it with something else, but to move the wine to a smaller container such that is full of wine, and very little air.

The wine connoisseur in the PBS program showed how easy it was to save wine in a plastic water bottle. Top off the water bottle, and drink the excess. Far easier, cheaper, and fool proof than using fancy air pumps and other gadgets. The wine displaces the air in the smaller bottle. DONE. Cheap and effective. More effective than expensive containers, argon sprays, or vacuum pumps.

The water bottle idea sounds great. I'm sure the snobs will balk at putting their wine in something so mundane, but I'm all about saving the wine. Thanks for the input.

Yes at home I keep my old empty wine 1/2 bottles and pour the remainder in them to minimize the oxygen.
Since my post I have read some experts swear by simply refrigerating the wine (either white or red). I have been trying it combined with some of these other methods and it seems to be working quite well.
With regard to my original thread what is the most effective technique in a hotel on the road i think this might end up being the simplest technique assuming that one can find space in these over jammed refrigerator minibars.

Pack an empty half bottle in your bag. If you drink half a full size bottle, pour the rest in your empty half bottle, put the cork in it, and you will be all set for a day or two or even longer depending on the wine.

I started drinking red wine for the first time last year (2009) - usually one glass/day. Initially I would buy a bottle of red wine and if I traveled I would store it in the fridge which would allow it to last a bit longer.

A friend recommended wine box and that seems to have solved my problem of bottles of red wine going bad.

Thanks for some of the suggestions you all have recommended - I will also give those a try.

Platy Preserve
 

For travel I bring a Platypus. They have a wine version that holds 800ml. You just squeeze the remaining air out and screw on the cap. I've kept wine successfully for a week (haven't tried longer). The best part is that the Platy folds flat and weighs almost next to nothing. I bring at least 2 (one for white and another for red).

They are BPA-free and don't leave a plastic-y aftertaste. If I'm going winery hopping, then I bring more :p