WineForEveryone

SAVE WINE & MONEY TOO!

For those of you who would love to have a glass of wine, but won’t open a bottle because you think you can’t store what’s left over…Open it and enjoy! Here’s a simple idea that will save you money, GUARANTEED!

Oxygen ages wine. Aging is a good thing if it occurs slowly and over a long period of time. Too much oxygen can age wine prematurely, ruining the wine. Since oxygen ages wine, the key is not to allow any air in the bottle.

To remove the air from an open bottle of wine, stores will sell you all kinds of gadgets to take the air out of your bottle, ranging from vacuum devices and hand pumps designed to suck out the air, and CO2 gas dispenser capsules which replace oxygen with inert nitrogen. The prices for products range from $13 to $50. We admit, these methods work, but cost money…unnecessarily.

Okay, now that you understand the idea, here’s what you do. Simply take a smaller bottle (any kind of bottle will do) with a screw top. Pour the left over wine into this smaller bottle. Be sure to fill the bottle all the way up the stem, leaving ¼ inch or less of air between the top of the bottle and the wine. Then screw the top on tightly. That’s it!

Why does it work? Remember the goal is to remove as much oxygen as you can. All the air that can hurt the wine is in that small air gap between the top of the wine and the end of the bottle. Since you filled the bottle as close to the top as possible, the air will have relatively no harmful effect on the wine. Now put it in your refrigerator, the cold air will slow up the aging process even more.

One thing to remember, regardless of how you remove the air from the bottle, you don’t have forever to drink the remaining wine. After all, when you opened the bottle, air did get in. The longer you left the bottle open before applying the chosen preservation technique, the longer the wine is exposed to oxygen, so the sooner you take out the air and get it refrigerated, the longer it will last. We do suggest you drink the remaining wine within a week of putting it away.

At our home I have bottles of varying sizes, one that only holds one glass of wine when filled to the top, one that holds two glasses, and so on. This allows me to drink as much as I want today, knowing I can enjoy what’s left over during the next couple days without fear. If I know I am not going to finish the bottle when I open it, I immediately transfer the excess wine into the smaller bottle, so I maximize the time I can save it.

So go ahead, buy that good bottle, enjoy what you want and enjoy the rest later in the week. That way you get to enjoy it twice…now that’s a good deal and it costs nothing extra!

~WA


	Food and Wine Pairing Food and Wine Pairing Guidelines Pairing Beef and Wine Pairing Chicken and Wine Pairing Fish and Wine Pairing Seafood and Wine Wine Article Index SAVE WINE & MONEY TOO! For those of you who would love to have a glass of wine, but won’t open a bottle because you think you can’t store what’s left over…Open it and enjoy! Here’s a simple idea that will save you money, GUARANTEED! Oxygen ages wine. Aging is a good thing if it occurs slowly and over a long period of time. Too much oxygen can age wine prematurely, ruining the wine. Since oxygen ages wine, the key is not to allow any air in the bottle. To remove the air from an open bottle of wine, stores will sell you all kinds of gadgets to take the air out of your bottle, ranging from vacuum devices and hand pumps designed to suck out the air, and CO2 gas dispenser capsules which replace oxygen with inert nitrogen. The prices for products range from $13 to $50. We admit, these methods work, but cost money…unnecessarily. Okay, now that you understand the idea, here’s what you do. Simply take a smaller bottle (any kind of bottle will do) with a screw top. Pour the left over wine into this smaller bottle. Be sure to fill the bottle all the way up the stem, leaving ¼ inch or less of air between the top of the bottle and the wine. Then screw the top on tightly. That’s it! Why does it work? Remember the goal is to remove as much oxygen as you can. All the air that can hurt the wine is in that small air gap between the top of the wine and the end of the bottle. Since you filled the bottle as close to the top as possible, the air will have relatively no harmful effect on the wine. Now put it in your refrigerator, the cold air will slow up the aging process even more. One thing to remember, regardless of how you remove the air from the bottle, you don’t have forever to drink the remaining wine. After all, when you opened the bottle, air did get in. The longer you left the bottle open before applying the chosen preservation technique, the longer the wine is exposed to oxygen, so the sooner you take out the air and get it refrigerated, the longer it will last. We do suggest you drink the remaining wine within a week of putting it away. At our home I have bottles of varying sizes, one that only holds one glass of wine when filled to the top, one that holds two glasses, and so on. This allows me to drink as much as I want today, knowing I can enjoy what’s left over during the next couple days without fear. If I know I am not going to finish the bottle when I open it, I immediately transfer the excess wine into the smaller bottle, so I maximize the time I can save it. So go ahead, buy that good bottle, enjoy what you want and enjoy the rest later in the week. That way you get to enjoy it twice…now that’s a good deal and it costs nothing extra! ~WA

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