Wine Preservers

[jgros001]

Do these work? I am talking about the vacuum pumps that are supposed to preserve wine if you don't finish the bottle in one sitting. If so, how long will the vacuum seal last.....a couple of days, week(s)?

[Bluesman]

According to Consumer Reports: No.

They say their experts couldn't tell the difference between a wine that was just recorked (and refrigerated) and ones that used any of the several similarly based preservation techniques. (They did recommend consuming the remaining wine within a week or so.)

YMMV.

[chibnkr]

Well, I have a Vacu-Vin (don't recall exactly which version...I could check but don't recall off hand) and I think that it does indeed work. Granted, an open bottle of wine never lasts more than a day or two at my house, but with the vaccu-vin it retains the "freshness" much longer (i.e., it does not get that "oxidized" flavor). For $15 or so I think that it is well worth it. But, JMHO. And by no means am I as experienced in the world of wine as many others here (heck, I only have about 9 or 10 cases in my collection).

[smokinpoke]

We have the manual type. Seems to keep the wine good for about a week tops.

[Bluesman]

Just to make it clear, I have no dog in this fight as I have one of those vacuum pump things myself...

...but I came across this recently while doing some research on consumerreports.org:



December 2006
What to do with leftover wine?
Just put a cork in it

UNNECESSARY EQUIPMENT There’s no clear need for Vacu-Vin Vacuum Wine Saver and other wine-preservation systems, our tests suggest. Wine that was corked and refrigerated didn’t noticeably deteriorate in a week or so.It’s a problem that’s as old as wine itself: The imbibing is over for the evening, but there’s good wine left in the bottle. Since wine’s flavor is so delicate, how best to preserve it for another night?

A lot of people turn to wine-preservation systems that seek to retard or stop oxidation, the chemical process that degrades wine. If you’re among those who swear by such systems, we have surprising news, based on our tests of four widely known brands: No system beat simply recorking the bottle and sticking it in the fridge.

Getting the air out. With the Wine Enthusiast Private Preserve, $10, you spray nitrogen into the bottle, then stopper it. The Vacu-Vin Vacuum Wine Saver, $10, uses rubber stoppers (two are provided) with a pump that sucks out air. WineKeeper, $100, and Pek Wine Steward, $100, use nitrogen and argon gas, respectively, to displace air and so keep it from touching the wine.

We tested three varietals with the systems on three different occasions for three different periods of time. For comparison, we also stoppered one bottle with its own cork. After all the bottles spent time in our wine cellar, expert wine consultants compared their contents in blind taste tests with freshly opened bottles.

Graceful aging. The connoisseurs found few differences between the stored and new bottles. The chardonnay, stored for 10 days, tasted pretty uniform; one judge wondered if it had all come from the same bottle. There was a noticeable variation between the new bottle of cabernet sauvignon and bottles that had been stored for eight days, though testers still said new and old bottles were still “more similar than different.” The zinfandel, stored for 22 days, had aged badly with all storage methods.

If our trained experts, with nearly 60 years in the business, couldn’t discern among wine storage systems, most consumers probably can’t, either. So just go ahead and cork it (you can turn the cork over if it’s easier to get in). But try not to wait more than a week or so to drink the wine, and sooner is better.

[mosesbotbol]

the best way is to save a half sized bottle and pour half your wine or port directly into that and cork so there is no air; that's it