Extending the life of your leftover wine
Anyone who enjoys wine has at some point wondered how to keep wine fresh after opening a bottle and drinking only a portion of it. While oxygen is a vital component to opening up the flavor of a wine when it has just been opened and poured, the same chemical reaction will quickly begin to degrade your wine. Left too long, any wine left unfinished in the bottle and exposed to oxygen will begin to take on an acidic and vinegar taste.
There are quite a few wine preservation systems available to help you extend the life of your wine after the bottle has been opened. By choosing a system that works well for you, you can keep your favorite wines fresh to enjoy for more than one evening at a time.
Recork & refrigerate
Simply recorking and refrigerating the remainder of a bottle of wine can keep it reasonably fresh for a short period of time. For wine drinkers who only need to preserve a partial bottle from one evening to the next, this solution is often the only one necessary.
If you typically enjoy reds or wines that are best served at room temperature, keep the proper glasses on hand. When served in the correct type of wine glass, a chilled red will warm to room temperature fairly quickly just from the warmth of your hand on the glass. This will allow you to still enjoy your favorite wine at the appropriate temperature while easily preserving it in the refrigerator from one evening to the next.
Recorking and refrigerating your open bottle of wine is only recommended for up to 24 hours. When you wish to preserve an open bottle for a longer period of time, choosing the right wine preserver is essential.
Private Preserve
After extensive testing against other devices, many wine experts agree that Private Preserve is one of the best choices for extending the life of your wine after opening.Private Preserve is a mixture of gases including nitrogen, carbon dioxide and argon. The mixture is odorless and does not add any flavors to the wine. It works by displacing any oxygen within the wine bottle and then filling the empty space between the wine and the cork to prevent oxygen from reaching (and reacting with) your wine.
This preservation system is contained within a can that is somewhat similar to WD-40. While the pressurized can is extremely light, don’t let this fool you. At a price of less than $12, a single can of Private Reserve can save as many as 120 bottles of unfinished wine.
In addition, Private Preserve does not affect the flavor of the wine and is FDA approved. Getting accustomed to using this system can be a bit tricky, but once you’ve filled a few bottles you’ll be working it like a pro. Best of all, Private Preserve can extend the life of your wine by as many as 5 to 7 days after opening.
Air Cork Wine Preserver
Another popular option for preserving open bottles of wine is the Air Cork Wine Preserver. Priced at about $25, it is also an inexpensive option and has the benefit of being very simple to use.Unlike Private Preserve, the Air Cork does not utilize inert gases to preserve your wine. Instead, it basically consists of a balloon that is inserted into an unfinished bottle of wine and then inflated by squeezing the pump that dangles outside the bottle. As the balloon fills with air, oxygen within the bottle is displaced, extending the life of the remaining wine.
One disadvantage to using this particular preservation system is that it can only be used with one bottle of wine at a time. It also extends the life to about 3 days after opening when combined with refrigeration.
No matter what type of preservation you choose to extend the life of your unfinished wine, refrigeration is the key to keeping your wine as fresh as possible. By combining a preservation system with refrigeration, you can enjoy delicious fresh-tasting wine for as long as one week after opening.