Tips on keeping wine fresh
We’ve all been in the situation (once or twice) before where we’re the only one home one evening, decide to have one glass with dinner and don’t finish off the bottle. So how can you keep the rest of the bottle as fresh as possible? Here we take a look whether simply resealing the bottle is enough or, is it worthwhile investing in one of the various gadgets on the market.
Most wine connoisseurs will tell you that wine is almost always best enjoyed on the day it is opened. You’ll find that some restaurants don’t bother with fancy resealing devices and use the cap or cork it came with, as they say that some wines last well into the next day. So why should you bother with one of these whizz bang gadgets? On the other hand, research shows that some restaurants use an argon gas preservation system and that it works really well.
As you may have discovered yourself at home, wine doesn’t go off that quickly, per se, but it can lose its quality before becoming unpleasant. The villain to blame in this process is oxygen. If you’re a red wine drinker, you’ve likely heard that giving it time to breathe is a good thing. Well although a little air is often good for wine, the longer it is exposed to oxygen the more it changes. Some wines, typically robust reds, benefit from a day or two of “development” in an open bottle. But in most, fruit smells and flavours dissipate. The wine starts to oxidise and taste sharp and “vinegary”. That’s why wine-saving devices are typically designed to limit contact with air.
Winesave
A user-friendly delivery system that uses gas that's used by many restaurants to form a protective “blanket” between the wine and the air in the bottle. The at-home version comes in a canister: you attach a tube to the nozzle to squirt the gas into the bottle before reapplying the original seal. Can keep wine well for at least five days.
Wine Shield
A piece of flexible, circular plastic inserted into a partly drunk bottle to become a floating lid, claiming to keep wine fresh for up to five days after opening. Fiddly to insert – it’s done via the sachet in which each “shield” is packaged – but not hard once you have the knack. You then reapply the original seal. Will keep the wine in good condition for at least three days.
Vacu Vin
This gadget is designed to suck air out of the bottle. Popular with wine critics, it vacuums out the air. While it is said to not be as great on day two as some of the other devices, it is better on day five than the others.
Screw cap
In some cases the original metal seal that came with the bottle will keep the wine pleasant on day two but it won’t last until day five like some of the others. At least it is free, though, right?
Wine stopper
Often made from stainless steel with a plastic interior, these don’t seem to do much. It’s a stretch to do anything that a cork (or screw cap) wouldn’t. So I guess this is a good option if you lose the cork or screw or you have trouble replacing it after you’ve finished.