Newfangled wine preserver, a clever idea. I’m happy with my WineSaverPro argon system but it tends to dull aromatics, which is going to be a flaw with any preservation system that keeps any large amount of gas in the bottle in contact with the wine (inert or not). So I’m always on the lookout for other ideas, and when I saw this I had to get it.
With the Wine Balloon, you stick a hose with an inflatable balloon on the end into your wine bottle, and expand. It seals the wine in along with a very small amount of air. When ready to drink, there is a button on the hose to deflate the balloon.
In the two pictures above I’m just trying it out with a wine bottle half-full of water (plus a flashlight to illuminate the balloon). The seal is very strong, I can turn the bottle upside-down without leaking any liquid. The balloon itself is thin but appears strong, I am curious how long it will last without eventually breaking. Luckily the balloon part can be easily replaced with spares.
In the new few weeks I will be testing this with actual wine… I am the most sensitive person I’ve ever met or heard about when it comes to opened wine degradation so my standards are VERY high.
There was a recent TV show which featured this product and the inventor. Show is about two guys on the look out for new cool products to bring to market. The Wine Baloon won the episode. Sort of an Iron Chef for inventions. Interesting story.
Sounds as if it should work well, but the 375ml method also works well if you are looking to preserve a half bottle. Much more or much less, this could give you more flexibility.
For some reason the 375ml method never worked for me… I suspect it’s because the act of pouring out the wine aerates it very efficiently, accelerating oxidation. The argon gas method is much better but does have the downside of killing the aromatics on many wines.
Cool. “Air cork” certainly would be a more descriptive name for this product, but I guess he just wants to go it alone and keep all the profit. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
Some kind of (presumably food-grade) rubber. If you sniff it as hard as you can with it right up against your nose unexpanded, you get a very faint whiff of “balloon”. I’m going to use this for a couple weeks with many different wines before rendering any verdict (unless it’s an obvious failure the first or second time).
I ballooned a half-bottle of wine yesterday, 24 hours later walk into to cellar to find it completely deflated. I have a spare balloon attachment and am going to give that another try before writing this off as a piece of junk, but I’m not optimistic.
Gave the Wine Balloon another shot with the spare balloon attachment. This was a Zinfandel that I rated 94 on day 1. I consumed half a bottle and ballooned it for 2 days.
This time the balloon held; I was able to turn the bottle upside-down on day 3 before deflating with no leakage. However, the wine turned out to be somewhat dead. Very little bouquet, somewhat flat on the palate, perhaps rating no more than an 86. I can only speculate why this solution doesn’t work for me. Perhaps the volume of “new” air trapped between the balloon and the wine was enough to kill it? (Didn’t seem like a lot, really, but it was at least the volume of a typical “headspace”.) Maybe there is significant gas exchange on a molecular level across the balloon’s membranes?
There was obviously no mechanical failure here so I see no point in trying again with a different pump or balloon. Hopefully the creator of the product can remedy whatever the issue is, but once again I have to admit I am more sensitive than 99.9% of wine drinkers to wine degeneration after opening, so there’s a good chance almost everyone else would be as happy with this relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use product as they would with a gas or a half-bottle solution. You’ll have to try it for yourself, I guess.
Thanks for the update. I’m also interested to hear the results of the wine shield. At this point I’m happy to continue using the tried a true 375ml or 187ml method. However, it would be nice if one of these other solutions really worked as you would not need to worry about the amount leftover.
Nick - Thanks for the independent test and comments. You sure must be more sensitive than 99.9% of the folks out there. I thought my wife was the most sensitive, but I think you’ve topped her ! Her sensitivity is what generated the concept and the product. It has definitely worked for her.
The idea of course is to have the least amount of air in contact with your wine. Sealing the wine at the level of the wine within the bottle seems to be one of the best ways to to accomplish this. It’s not for long term storage but rather to keep the oxidation to a minimum for one, two or three days until you can enjoy another glass.
Ultimate goal is to have the confidence to open a good bottle of wine and enjoy just a glass or two; knowing that you can enjoy another great glass tomorrow. When you want a GOOD glass of wine, go ahead, open it and enjoy.
Thanks again Nick, and everyone else who commented. I hope you’ll continue to use your Wine Balloon and enjoy your wine today…and tomorrow.
I am glad you helped me discover Wine Berserkers and look forward to posting and commenting from now on.
I don’t understand how this product would reduce the amount of oxygen dissolved in the wine during exposure to air when the first few glasses are poured out. This is why I believe that none of these products would work as well as one that would pump the wine out of the bottle without exposing the remainder to air or even inert gas.
I’ve been pondering whether this might account for the results I saw. Upon opening the bottle, I immediately poured out half into a decanter for today’s consumption, then immediately ballooned the rest. I noticed that the simple act of pouring out half the bottle causes additional air exposure to the half that remains in the bottle due to bubbles bubbling up and temporary increased surface area.
Hmm, I just had a crazy idea… open the bottle, but don’t pour anything out. Insert the wine balloon halfway into the full bottle and pump as normal, while collecting the wine that dribbles out the top for consumption. That way the half-bottle that remains trapped below the balloon is NEVER exposed to air… OK I just tried this with a bottle full of water, the problem is that the (not-yet-fully-expanded) wine balloon keeps drifting to the top of the bottle.
Oh well. But what if the balloon was instead attached to a inflexible rod instead of a flexible tube? Then have some sort of plug mechanism on top of the rod that covers the bottle opening and can collect/pump the wine being consumed today (the wine above the balloon). Then assuming the balloon is truly inert and a perfect barrier, we have a theoretically perfect solution. (Eric please steal this idea!)