If you are like most casual wine drinkers, you open a bottle of wine and when you don't finish it, put the cork back on and leave it on the counter for later, only to arrive to a sour or "old" tasting wine. It feels like money was wasted and frustration over losing a great tasting wine so quickly!
Why does this happen?
It is because your wine has oxidized. Oxidize = to combine with oxygen. Once your bottle has been opened, it can take a few days or less for your wine to become oxidized.
This can be bad news for your wine if not stored properly for your next glass.
What do you do now? There is an easy and affordable tool that can delay the oxidation process once a bottle has been opened.
It is called, simply, a Wine Bottle Vacuum Pump.
This handy dandy pump can be used on any bottle (other than champagne or sparkling wine) to keep it fresh and properly stored for up to a week. It is very easy to use. Just stick the reusable rubber stopper in the
bottle, use the vacuum to pump out the air until it won't pump anymore and store the wine in the fridge. It is much more effective to store the opened
wine in the refrigerator than leave it out on the counter. However, I personally will leave a red on the counter for a day if I know I am drinking it the next night. Some have been
able to preserve an opened bottle of wine for as long as a week using
this tool. You can purchase the pump for under $10 with usually 3 stoppers included at any Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target, Amazon or World Market.
If you want to preserve a sparkling wine, you will need a bottle stopper. Unlike still wines, you actually want to keep the air in the bottle, not out. Again, this can be purchased for under $10 and you just pop it on the bottle and place in the fridge.
No matter what, your wine will always taste a bit different each time you open it but, hopefully, with these tools, it will continue to stay fresh for you to get your full money's worth out of each tasting.
Cheers!
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