Has anyone tried the Repour with a bottle that has been opened and decanted earlier in the evening, and now with some wine remaining you wish to save it for the next day or two?
It is not uncommon after our tastings that there is some left of some very special wines. I have tried pouring them to the brim of small 1/2 or 1/4 bottles and inserting the screw cap, I have tried WineSave argon after pouring into a half bottle, etc. But they always seem to deteriorate and lose freshness compared to where they were at the end of the previous evening.
I do not know whether the Repour would work better, not to restore these wines that have been exposed to air for hours, but to at least keep them at the same level for a time.
Also, I have never put my red wines in the fridge after any previously used method of preservation…whether it was Vacuvin years ago, placing them into smaller bottles, WineSave argon, etc…simply because it seemed that bringing them up to serving temperature would take so long. I would imagine that any method of preservation might work better if the wines were refrigerated, even if the Repour was the best.
I would love to see the previously described experiment done with wines that been open and decanted for hours, both in and out of the fridge.
I suppose I could buy some Repours and try it myself…unless someone who has them wants to try their hand at this experiment.
All the positive feedback has me intrigued, so even though I don’t need another wine preservation gadget I’ve ordered a few of these to test them out. I can see where they are so much more convenient than the coravin. I like the duct tape idea, although you have no way to determine if the oxygen absorption material is saturated or not. It sure would cut down the cost if you could reuse it over 2-3 bottles vs. just a single bottle.
I’ve now done this with a few wines, stoppered with Repour at the end of a tasting, usually where the bottle was only around 20% full, and the results were encouraging. I do always put the wines into the fridge as well though, be they red or white. Yes, a red needs 30-60 mins to warm up a bit but I’m sure it keeps it fresher so the tradeoff is worth it. Haven’t tested with a wine not put back into the fridge as I want to give the wine the best chance of staying alive, and a fridge helps with that.
Of course it’s not going to improve a wine from the state it was in when you stopper it, but the wine doesn’t seem to get any worse based on my experience so far. Albeit mostly younger wines so a test on an older, more fragile wine would indeed be interesting.
The idea was suggested on a forum over here that you could put an opened repour into a small airtight container, or sealable small plastic bag to keep its absorbing properties alive before you get around to opening another bottle. I also just had the idea that you could fill a wine bottle with water and insert the repour into that. I would estimate you could stretch it out to 3 or 4 bottles quite easily, but you do run the risk of its effectiveness eventually being lost. Experience will no doubt shed more light on this.
Just to be clear, I’m not being critical, just looking for better understanding. I there’s something that can help preserve a half consumed wine for a few days, and costs a couple bucks, that seems like a win-win.
I think that this does fit the bill. Even if you use one stopper per bottle, I think it’s worth it. The quality at which it has kept my 1961 LdH is outstanding. I intentionally tried it on an older wine to see if it would hold up and to my palate, it was very successful. I’m certainly convinced and I’m probably gonna put in an order for a few more.
I ordered a box of 72 to see how it goes. This would be especially good for a restaurant where you bring a bottle or two with the expectation they won’t be emptied there. I have thought of bringing my Pungo (which I like plenty) to the restaurant but the geek and equipment factor would be over the top for most everyone.
I could see something like this being incorporated into an actual cork seal for long term storage and protection against premox. There’s a marketing opportunity.
I’ve thrown out my instructions but I remember that there was a warning or somesuch to not store the bottle on its side. Whatever oxygen absorber is being used probably doesn’t play nice once it comes in contact with liquid…
I was thinking of embedding a layer in the middle of the cork, so that it wouldn’t be in contact with liquid, but would be there to intercept any oxygen that gets through an otherwise good seal. Or it could be an add-on seal you place on an unopened bottle for long term storage.
I take it by your comments that the chemist in you believes in the science behind the Repour? I’m dubious that it can actually extract O2 that is dissolved in the wine itself once you open a bottle and pour out a glass or 2. However as you know I’m a drinker not a chemist, so your opinion matters to me! In particular we all know how sensitive Burgundy is to air, so if this works on a delicate wine like Burgundy then I am all in.
Well, I don’t actually know exactly what it’s doing, but let’s assume it does work (and there is some anecdotal evidence here that appears to say it does).
So let’s take the example of a half drunk bottle. At 100% saturation, oxygen content in water is on the order of 10 mg/l. In 375ml, that would be only about 4mg of dissolved oxygen. At STP (not far off from normal air temp/pressure), there are about 22.4L of gas per mole, or about 0.017 moles of gas in 375ml, 20% of which is O2; about 100mg of oxygen, or 25 times what could possibly be dissolved in the liquid wine.
So, assuming that O2 is responsible for some degradation in wine (I think we have to make that assumption), whatever is already dissolved will do its damage - and maybe there’s initially enough SO2 to handle that. But if you can prevent the 25x more O2 from ultimately interacting, that seems like a good thing.
Now, I would still make my diffusion argument, that a bottle just sitting there will take a long time for O2 in the head space to dissolve and move through the wine, but I still like the idea of eliminating the potential for further harm.
Update from myself as the OP. Great to see all the positive results.
Ironically my results weren’t amazing. Ha.
Opened a 2010 Bartolo. Drank 1/4th the bottle then put a repour on it. Kept it in my bag with an ice pack overnight. Had it 16 hours later, about 3oz and put the repour immediately back on. Delicious and fresh.
Put it in the fridge. About half a bottle left. Tried it five days later and it was pretty much flat and oxidized. Lots of bricking in color.
That’s a bummer, especially with that nice of a bottle. For the sake of science. On the second opening, did you feel there was a vaccuum when you popped off the repour? Wonder if it ran out of ability to absorb oxygen from the prior use or the seal was bad.
Sorry if it’s covered earlier but I’m wondering how long (how many bottles/uses) each if these is said to last. If it’s a viable alternative to Coravin, there’s a cost comparison to be made.
Note: I’m now involved with a Coravin hooked up to a tank of Argon (per a poster here) and we’re working through just a few days of that.