Most of the time its just my wife and I drinking and we only drink a glass each with dinner.
Most of our bottles are in the $20 to $50 range so I hate to open a bottle on a week night and feel like I have to consume it over next 2 to 3 days. So I usually only open a bottle on the weekend when we share it with friends and family and drink it all in one night.
I have looked at the various wine preservation systems and some of them are quite pricey, but considering the cost of wine might be worth the investment. It seems to me the systems that use inert gas are the best because the wine never gets exposed to air. The two that seem to be most popular are Coravin and Pungo. I am really put off by the cost of the Coravin argon cartridges. Pungo Argon is a lot less expensive and the unit seems to be higher quality, so I am leaning towards Pungo. Looks like the initial cost will be about $370 including 10 cartridges. I will be happy if the wine stays good for a month. I am wondering if there are less expensive options that would keep the wine for a month? There is an air pump device on Amazon called Zazzol wine saver that has very high reviews. But reading the reviews doesn’t seem give much information about how long it keeps the wine, my guess is only a few days.
Was just reading about Private Preserve wine spray. Seems very cost effective and lasts maybe a week. Maybe I will give a try for first for $10.
Hi Joel
If looking to keep wine for a month, then Pungo or Coravin would (IMO) be the way to go. They also seem to work well for the wine geek who wants just a glass of a specific wine, and likes to stretch that bottle over 3-4 visits.
Personally I’ve not bought one, despite being in a similar position to you. In days gone by I used to decant half the bottle into a half-bottle, and put it in the fridge to have a day or two later. The rest we’d drink that night (actually on reflection, more often we’d drink what we wanted and if there was enough left to be worth it, we’d decant the remnants into the half bottle). There were some comments I recall that the act of decanting into a half bottle, may introduce more air than simply recorking.
These days, we just put what’s left of the full bottle in the fridge & drink the following day or day after. Sometimes it’s noticeably worse for wear, but more often it’s still very near how it was on opening and more rarely it’s better.
If you want an approach that introduces less air in, but much cheaper than the pricey kits, then go to a childrens toy & game shop and buy a big bag of marbles. Add enough marbles to the half-finished bottle to bring the level up to the top & store the wine in fridge or cellar. I still would aim to finish within 3-4 days, and make sure I cleaned the marbles well after each use. Also be very careful how you pour as marbles + delicate ‘fine wine glasses’ can be a painful combination. Again, not something I do - not worth the hassle for us.
On the odd occasion a wine is really struggling when we return to it, then yes it will get put aside for cooking, but this is relatively rare.
This is the cause of your problem. It is easily fixed. A single glass of wine is like having one mushroom and calling that dinner. My wife is the only person I know who can do that.
I don’t often have wine left over from dinner. However, when I used to sell it, I wouldn’t want to take a bottle out for a few days running, so I’d immediately decant into a 1/2 bottle on opening and put that into the fridge. And I’d fill it way up to the top then put the cork in.
Ian is right in that you may beat air into the wine from the decanting. But do it slowly. You’ll beat in a lot less air doing it all at once than you will by continually upending the bottle to pour a few glasses. The key is to put it in the fridge right away. While you may have incorporated some air, you want to slow any reactions and cold seems to be the most useful way of doing that. I have kept wine a few weeks that way, with minimal drop off in flavor, and I did it with many dozens of bottles over the years. It’s not perfect but it’s a lot cheaper than a Coravin.
In fact, Coravin or no, I’d probably put the wine in the fridge anyway if I’ve taken some out of the bottle.
Pungo and Coravin are by far the best and wine will stay extremely fresh for a month or more.
Anything else is a big step down but much cheaper as they wine will oxidize in those but slower than in a re-corked bottle on the counter. Wine preserver, vacuvin, fridge etc. Pouring into a half bttl, wine preserver on top, re-stoppered and in a fridge works pretty well when the half bottle is pretty much full up. But nothing like the above two as you are adding oxygen by definition.
Thanks for the feedback so far.
I used to be able to drink 2 or 3 glasses at a time, but now too much alcohol has an adverse affect on me.
Being an engineer, cheapskate and tinkerer I have an idea for a DIY wine saver.
Buy a piece of thin stainless steel tubing (Hypodermic tubing on Amazon) and cut in two pieces.
Insert two pieces into the cork. Connect one piece to a Private Preserve can or other source of inert gas. Spray gas into one tube while pouring from the other tube. Pull out tubes and seal with soilid round object.
Yes it will be clunky and labor intensive to use but might just work.
I read that Jancis Robinson had recommended Winesave, a spray bottle that contains only argon (as opposed to the mixture in some of the others), and so I tried it and thought it worked well. Then they stopped importing it into the US for some reason. I think it is from Australia, and is apparently available all around the world but not North America.
I keep half bottles with screw tops, and if I know in advance that I would only consume a half bottle or less, then, as others have described, I pour the wine to the brim and screw the cap on…works better than leaving an airspace and inserting a cork. This works pretty well but is no great solution when you do not anticipate wimpy consumption and have leftover wine in a bottle or decanter (or several after a tasting) and want to save it for a day or two. I do not see the Coravin or Pungo as convenient solutions for how my friends and my family typically drink their wine. And I personally do not care about sampling wines here and there throughout my cellar.
I am awaiting a company that I think is called Airscape who makes steel canisters for coffee beans (and other food items) with an inner “disk/lid” with a one way valve and silicone seal around the edge that you push down to evacuate the air until it hits the beans. I understand that they are planning to make a glass version for wine. If this worked it would seem to be a simple way of eliminating the airspace above any quantity of wine without trying to vacuum it (ineffectively) or pump in an inert gas to cover the surface. We shall see.
Looked at a few of those contraptions. Requires buying a Coravin or Pungo and making modifications with custom parts.
Not ready to go there yet until I convince myself the cheap route can’t work.
My thoughts…in the FWIW category:
Many of the wine preservation systems operate on the principle of replacing the air-filled head space w/ an inert gas (Argon/Nitrogen/Radon/MustardGas/etc) in order to prevent “oxidation”. I think this is baloney.
The oxidation rate for relatively young wine (5-10 yrs old) is sooooo slow that oxidation is not the issue. If the wine were being oxidized, what are the oxidation products? Browning and precipitation of sediment. Leave a btl out on the sideboard for several weeks and see if this happens. It does not.
Oxidation is only and issue in very old wines (it’s not like I have a whole lot of experience w/ these!!) that are highly reduced. I’ll see in a 20-30 yr old red wine, set in a partially consumed btl, a change from a brickish red to a murky brown overnight or even several hrs.
The degradation you see in a partially opened btl set on the sideboard is the loss of volatiles
into the headspace. This is going to happen wether the gas is air, pure O2, Argon, or whatever.
But take this w/ a huge grain of salt. I am, after all, someone who believes it’s OK to store your wines, long-term, standing upright. I’m a crackpot and freely acknowledge that fact.
Tom
Wouldn’t your theory mean Coravins and Pungos wouldn’t work?
I’ve used Wine Save…it is ok…Maybe a slight improvement over nothing at all. I think pouring it into a half bottle is the best so far as far as the cheap methods…Get a screwcap half bottle and it makes it easy…
Joel - My drinking habits are very much like yours.
I usually open a bottle, pour half into a 375ml and refrigerate it. Works like a charm. And they generally will keep a week or more with no degradation. Not uncommonly, the half bottle from the refrigerator is more open and has more aroma than the original.
I agree that loss of volatiles is an issue if a wine is left out at room temperature. But I have also had browning/madeirazation scents with current release wines in 24 hours if the bottle is left at room temperature. Plus you can noticeable VA (from exposure to oxidation). I find this is much more common in Old World wines, though, and my impression from your posts is that you drink mainly California wines. I think in general they are cleaner going into the bottle and there are few New World wines that are aged as long in wood as some European wines.
As an experiment, try putting the half empty bottle in your freezer (cork in place, nothing bad will happen) and see what you think when it is defrosted.
Hi Tom
I tried your suggestion of mustard gas, and I must say the wine hasn’t lost anything over the course of a week. Indeed strangely it seems a bit more lively than before, with a breathless quality.
regards
Ian
I have the perfect solution for you that I have evolved to for midweek wine with dinner. Buy 250 ml volumetric flasks with ground glass stoppers and a small funnel from either a chemical supply house or Amazon. You do not need to splurge on Corning or Kimble. The class A borosilicate glass ones from India are much cheaper and just as good. When I open a bottle, I fill 2 of them to the stopper line and seal it with no air which with practice I can do without spilling any. Fill your glasses with the last 250 ml and drink them while saving the other flasks for another night. If you want 2 six ounce pours, you could get 125ml flasks to go with the 250. I hate to waste wine and I have found this a great way to avoid that without overindulging. White wines, I put the flasks in the fridge until I drink them. This is great dor days or a couple weeks. If you resulfited them, you could go much longer.
For what you wAnt, I think Mont’s suggestion is great. You could also keep some screwcap 375 mL bottles around. If you fill those to the very top and get the cap on with no headspace at all (so full that a tiny bit of wine spills out when you apply the cap), the wine will keep for quite a while. I know people who do this with smaller bottles for tasting samples and keep them for up to a couple of months with no problem as long as the wine is young.
I still wish I had an easy solution for the wine left over after a tasting, when you want to save them to try a bit the next day. Irregular amounts, and of course no anticipation of needing to save any amount you can pour into smaller containers before you start.
I have many multi sized bottles and jars with corks or deep treaded caps and I just fill to the tippy top and seal. IT IS a SIMPLE and INEXPENSIVE and IT WORKS.
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