Posts Tagged ‘wine freshness’

Ever since the creation of wine and the discovery that oxygen + wine = a less than fresh taste, people have attempted to create wine-preservation gadgets to help keep wine fresh.  You can find many on the shelves at stores, but the real question is knowing whether or not they actually work.

A Vacuvin is a pump device that uses suction power to draw the air out of the bottle, which then leaves behind a partial vacuum.  While the idea behind it isn’t a bad one, several testers find that it has no real effect in maintaining wine freshness.

The Private Preserve claims that it is the number one wine preserver in the world.  You spritz in a bit of nitrogen into a bottle, and because nitrogen is heavier than air, it settles in as a layer over the wine, thus protecting the wine from oxygen.  So far, testers are so-so about this gadget.

You can always go completely old school and drop clean glass marbles into a bottle, forcing the wine to the neck, pushing oxygen out completely.  Of course, as you reach the end of the bottle, you’ll need a lot of marbles!

People often look down on box wine as cheap and unappealing.  However, box wine actually has a few benefits that some may not have considered.  Food & Wine Magazine recently gave box wine a bit of applause for one simple fact: freshness.

Because box wine comes in a bag instead of a bottle, when it is poured, virtually no oxygen gets into the bag.  Though the outside packaging is a box, the box is only used to house the bag, which is created to collapse as the wine is emptied out of it.  Without any oxygen reaching the wine, the wine is able to stay fresher, longer.  Box wine also does not have to be cheap and without texture.  Most wines are, in fact, made ready to drink right away instead of being aged.  Box wines are also great for get-togethers.  You can purchase certain wines that come in attractive wooden boxes instead of cardboard or other forms.  For example, you can buy 3 liters of 2008 Domaine le Garrigton Côtes-du-Rhône for around $40, a meaty red straight from the Rhône Valley.