How long is red wine good for?
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at
3:53 pm
David L asked:
I got one of those wine stoppers that claims it makes an air tight seal. With this in use, how long will red wine be good for? Also, does this stopper thing work? Or is it just a gimick? I am not sure if it is that much better than just putting the cork back in?
I got one of those wine stoppers that claims it makes an air tight seal. With this in use, how long will red wine be good for? Also, does this stopper thing work? Or is it just a gimick? I am not sure if it is that much better than just putting the cork back in?
Tagged with: Gimick • Red Wine • Tight Seal
Filed under: Wine
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Once you open the bottle air gets inside. A tight stopper will help, but depending on the wine will only prolong its life for a few days to a week. There is something called the vacuum sealer which is a two part system whereby you put the stopper in, attach the pump and remove much of the air. This will prolong it even more. If you have the money to go real high tec there is a setup that will seal the bottle and replace the air trapped inside with an inert gas. This will prolong the life considerably longer. My question is why you would want to save a wine for so long anyway. If you uncork today and cant finish, re stopper and finish tomorrow.
I wouldn’t keep the wine more than 3 or 4 days.
As for how they work, they have a one way valve that only allows air to be ****** out, so it is better than putting the cork back – but not by a lot as there is still air left in there.
Better ones are those that work with a gas cannister and put an inert blanket of gas over the wine and stop any oxidation at all
First the vaccuum stoppers do more harm than good. When you pump out the air you’re also pumping out volatile esters that give flavor. Besides the seal doesn’t last that long. Inert gas is a better solution. This is how wineries keep juice and must protected before fermentation. Home applications are less effective but still significant.
Putting it in the fridge will slow the oxidation as well. The chemical processes all slow down.
The REAL answer is your own taste buds. When you don’t like the flavor anymore, then its not good anymore. Acetic acid levels increase as it oxidizes and you’ll find wine unpalatable long before this acid gets to levels by which they can make you ill.
What ruins an opened bottle of wine is the oxygen.
Wine stopper and vacuum does not help. Vacuum makes the wine worse because it takes the air out of the bottle, forcing the gas and the odor within the wine to come out of the wine and enter the vacuum. As a result, you get a wine that does not have much odor or taste after a few days.
The best way to preserve wine is th buy the wine preserver – heavy gas that would lay on the top layer of the wine and remove the oxygen from contacting the wine. Then, place the wine straight up in a refrigerator. At that time, you have hope for probably 1 week but no greater. How good it lasts depends on the quality of the wine to start out as well as how good your taste is. If your taste is impeccable, you will notice a difference even in a day or two.
Forever. Red wine industry is already over 5,000 years old and … going strong. Keep drinking, mate!