Wine Preservation Guide

The 75cl wine bottle, whilst wonderful for dinner parties, isn't the ideal container size when you are a) alone b) driving or c) hoping to enjoy your wine purchase over the course of at least a couple of days.

Whilst there are 1/2 bottles, bag in boxes, and even wine cans out there, our wine choices are largely restricted to the standard bottle sizes, so how do we keep our wine fresh to enjoy it for longer?

Wine spoils when it comes into contact with air. Whilst spoilage varies from wine to wine, bottles generally start to lose their freshness anywhere from 1 to 3 days after opening.

There are a variety of preservation systems out there, some of which are extremely good value. The below are all worth reviewing:

The VACU VIN

The Grand Daddy of wine preservation systems. Easy as pie to use, affordable, and compact. This is simply a hand operated vacuum pump system, which comes with a reusable rubber stopper. The newer versions of this pump emit a click sound when the optimum vacuum level has been reached. Very nifty.

THE INERT GAS BLANKETER

Basically an aerosol spray can. This can keep wine fresher for longer than a Vacu Vin (1 week as opposed to 3-5 days). It's disadvantage is that it runs out (albeit after a very long time), and the process is also harder to control (there is inevitably some loss when recapping the wine).

ENOMATIC MACHINES AND THE LIKE

These are the heavyweights, generally used by hotels and restaurants, though also now used in one or two enterprising wine merchants. Essentially they are a temperature controlled wine preservation and dispensing cabinet.

If you don't fancy spending a bean on any of the above, you can also pour the wine into a small decanter/carafe/vessel similar in size to the left over liquid. It's best to keep this (and all preserved wines, in fact) cool.

Finally, bear in mind that Vacu Vin's and gas blanketers don't work for Champagnes or sparkling wines. If you are a fan of the sparkly stuff, get yourself a Champagne stopper - you'll come to treasure it.
Pip Martin manages and produces International, UK-wide and London wine tasting games and other specialist events for the corporate events industry.