The Wine Preservation System Guide

The enemies of wine are heat and oxidation. Wine in an unopened bottle is exposed to oxygen in minute quantities. This is a benefit to aging wine, but a detriment to wines that are ready-to-drink. Once the bottle is open, the flood of oxygen can make a young wine blossom (for a short time), or cause an old one to whither away.

Therefore, young, concentrated or tannic, red wines will last longer after opening than mature, light reds, and considerably longer than white wines. But no matter what type of wine, if a bottle has been poured from several times and left open at room temperature for several hours, what's left may not hold much interest a day later. Each pour exposes more wine to oxygen and mixes more oxygen into the wine, as well as allowing aroma and flavor elements to escape.

Note: Fortified wines, especially Madeiras, Tawny Ports and Sweet Sherries can last several weeks without any special efforts at preservation. Box wines or cask wines, due to their unique packaging, can last 4 to 6 weeks.

The first step to preserving your wine is to stop oxygen from entering the bottle. A wine bottle stopper is the right tool for the job (they make them for decanters also). You can try to reinsert the cork after each serving. But if you haven't mangled the cork while opening the bottle, the hole in the middle is far from airtight.

A sparkling-wine stopper fits over an opened bottle and keeps it airtight. This wine tool is really effective in keeping any remaining Champagne or sparkling wine fresh. If also kept in the refrigerator it can last for several days.

Both red and white wines should be refrigerated after they're opened. Low temperatures slow the oxidation of wine. Refrigerating the wine and using a wine stopper should be combined with any other wine preservation systems to produce better results. Also make sure to store the bottles upright to minimize the amount of surface area exposed to oxygen.

Not only should you stop air from entering the bottle, you should reduce the amount of air in the bottle. A bottle that's 1/4 full will have more air than wine and will oxidize much faster than a bottle that's 3/4 full. This is the basis of another wine preservation technique, the half bottle.

The Half Bottle Technique

Buy a half bottle of wine, drink it and wash out the bottle. When you buy a regular size bottle, pour half of it immediately into the half bottle. Fill it to just below the top, seal it and you'll have basically no air in the half bottle. The wine will last 3-5 days, perhaps longer if you also refrigerate it.

A decanter can also be used for this technique. They come in different sizes, and compared to the half-bottle, they're also more attractive (don't store alcoholic beverages in lead crystal decanters for longer than 3 months).

Vacu-Vin

This wine preservation system is another attempt at removing air from the bottle. In this case the idea is to pump it out. In place of the cork you use a rubber stopper, then you put the Vacu-Vin on top of it and pump it several times. The basic model is often criticised for requiring too many pumps and having leaky stoppers. The response to this criticism was the Concerto.

The new Vacu-Vin Concerto features a special vacuum indicator that clicks when the maximum vacuum level is reached. The ergonomically-designed pump and tighter stoppers feature a stronger and longer-lasting vacuum.

However, this wine preservation system leaves plenty of air in the bottle because only a weak vacuum is formed. They also tend to suck out the light aromatic molecules and bring CO2 out of solution, leaving some wines a bit flat and definitely lacking in aroma. Never use this tool on a bottle of Champagne.

Private Preserve

This is a very popular preservation technique. It's a can of inert gases (a mixture of purified carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon) that, when sprayed through a long, thin straw into a partially-filled bottle of wine, displaces the oxygen and forms a protective blanket over the wine (in theory, see below). The bottle is then stored upright, minimizing the exposed surface area.

Properly used, Private Preserve can protect a number of different wines for extended periods ranging from a few days to a couple of weeks. Once again, a bottle that is 3/4 full will last longer than one that is 1/4 full. A bottle that was treated soon after opening will last longer than one that was treated after a few hours.

The manufacturer says it's good for 120 uses. That's a bit optimistic, but a can does last a long time and compared to other wine accessories, it's cheap ($10).

Wine Dispensers

Wine dispensers are definitely in the realm of fancy wine accessories. This is not a reference to box or cask wine, but a nitrogen-based wine preservation system for dispensing opened bottles of wine. Winekeeper is the best known brand. A single-bottle wine dispenser (unrefrigerated) costs $100 (nitrogen cylinder must be replaced after 20 uses), an 8-bottle, refrigerated unit costs $4,000 (Wow!), it's probably best suited for restaurants. An opened wine bottle lasts 3 weeks.

Pek Wine Preservation Systems

Pek is the middle ground between wine dispensers and cans of inert gas like Private Preserve. Why not just use the cheapest method, Private Preserve? First, Pek uses pure argon gas. Argon gas is heavier than air and not readily absorbed by wine, providing a true protective blanket.

Argon is 80% more effective than nitrogen because nitrogen is lighter than air and doesn't have a blanketing effect. Nitrogen also requires a large volume of gas to be effective and therefore costs more. For example, the nitrogen replacement canister for the single-bottle Winekeeper (20 uses) costs $40, a set of 4 argon replacement cartridges for Pek systems (15 uses each, 60 in total) costs $15. Although carbon dioxide is heavier than air it is also readily absorbed by wine, negating its blanketing effect.

Second, Private Preserve is difficult to apply consistently. It must be sprayed into the bottle for a certain amount of time, at the correct distance and angle to prevent turbulence that can draw in extra air. The cork must be quickly re-inserted without snagging the applicator straw or losing it inside the bottle completely.

The Pek Vino Vault ($300) can be added to the growing list of multi-faceted wine accessories. It is both a wine refrigerator and a wine preservation system. The Vino Vault can store up to 14 wine bottles at optimum serving temperatures, and has a built-in argon gas injection nozzle including two argon gas cartridges and two custom stoppers.