ChangeMe
Grape Destemmer
Posts:89
 | | 02/04/2003 8:41 PM |
| OK, time for an informal poll:
What do you do when you can't finish a bottle of good wine?
We have favored the vacuum pump and refrigerate, but I hear many say this ruins the wine and that inert gas sparge is the way to go.
Cheers,
Bass | | | |
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Blair Ridley
Wine Labeler
Posts:3980
| | 02/04/2003 8:46 PM |
| | Is this a red or a white? My answer would be different for both... | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Destemmer
Posts:89
| | 02/04/2003 9:02 PM |
| | Very good point. Lets assume for this poll that we are dealing with a red wine. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Destemmer
Posts:50
| | 02/04/2003 9:56 PM |
| Not to be flippant, but the concept of "not finishing a bottle of good wine" is simply foreign to me. Between thebuggal and I, there isnever good wine left in the bottle when we're done. It just doesn't happen.
Now if she gets pregnant, we'll have to re-think things- I doubt she'll stand me polishing off a bottle by myself in one sitting! | | | |
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Bradley Molzen
Bayonne, NJ
Wine Lover
Posts:4991
| | 02/04/2003 9:58 PM |
| The answer is a big fat DEPENDS, and no I don't have bladder issues.
Scenario #1: If I feel the wine needs more airtime, I'll just vacu-vin and put back in the 55 degree wine cooler.
Scenario #2: If I feel the wine does not need more airtime, I will use a half bottle, or quarter bottle (depending on amount of wine left over) and fill it to the top. When I recork the 1/2, or 1/4 bottle, a little wine will be pushed out, essentially eliminating all air in the bottle. This method lets me keep wines another two or three weeks if I want in some cases.
Since I can't always get back to my wine the next night, I prefer scenario #2.
Note: Those twist off corks found in most dessert wines (Like the Buller Muscat or Tokay) work tremendously well and are reusable.
To clean the 1/2 and 1/4 bottles, I use Oxy Clean. A truely amazing cleaner for wine bottles, glasses, etc. (and wine stains) | |
If you drink wine, you get smarter.... | |
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Dick W.
Barrel Filler
Posts:1081
| | 02/04/2003 10:02 PM |
| that's where the rebottling comes in bugguy!!! keep an empty bottle of a 10 dollar daily drinker handy and clean, remove good bottle contents to 10 dollar drinker bottle, enjoy to heart's content. coo lovingly at wife, saying you're saving the good stuff for when she can drink again.
every good relationship is built upon trust. but to paraphrase jack nicholson, "they can't handle the truth."
(i am kidding!) | | | |
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Blair Ridley
Wine Labeler
Posts:3980
| | 02/04/2003 10:12 PM |
| I voted for "Vacuum Pump and Room Temp" - although I always put the bottle back in the 'cellar.' I found it would keep much better than at room temp....
Rev - Very good points and I'm with you all over the place. | | | |
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Wineaux
New Orleans, LA
Barrel Filler
Posts:1414
| | 02/04/2003 10:23 PM |
| | I voted for vacuum pump and refrigerate back in the cellar. More specifically, however, I agree totally w/ Revlis' approach. | | | |
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love_cab_chard
Master of Wine
Posts:12501
| | 02/04/2003 10:25 PM |
| Vacuum Pump room temp.
But, I'm with thebugguy, it never happens with the any Wines besides the "Everyday" Wines. | | | |
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DukeRiley
McMinnville, OR
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2000
| | 02/04/2003 10:39 PM |
| | I'm trying to drink less per occasion, but more frequently, so I bought a 'Keeper' system that acts like a one bottle cruvinet for those instances when I/we don't finish a bottle. Under this system wine will keep for many days, and I have three of the spout units that fit in the bottle, so I can work on three bottles at a time. It works great except you have to decide to use the unit from when you open the bottle. | |
Heater Allen Brewing
www.heaterallen.com | |
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Eric White
San Ramon, CA
Advanced Sommelier
Posts:9257
| | 02/05/2003 12:00 AM |
| | I voted "other". For me, keeping some half and quarter bottles with screw caps work great, just pour off what you don't need in the smaller bottle (filling as full as you can) and refigerate. Works great, and it's cheap (thank GATC for getting me hooked on this solution!) | | | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts:13711
| | 02/05/2003 1:43 PM |
| "Sparge"
Huh?!?!  | |
www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
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Budman
Master of Wine
Posts:11879
| | 02/05/2003 3:21 PM |
| TJ,
Isn't 'sparge' just an anagram for 'grapes'??? | | | |
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skwid
Wine Connoisseur
Posts:5452
| | 02/05/2003 5:04 PM |
| | It might be TJ, but in beer brewing "sparging" is where you rinse the grain with hot water to remove the sugars. I have no idea why you would use it for anything related to wine once it is bottled. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Destemmer
Posts:89
| | 02/05/2003 6:46 PM |
| Huh? Sparging is a gas purge. It is a common chemical process used to introduce - or displace through partial solubilities- other gases. See dictionary.com
sparge ( P ) Pronunciation Key (spärj)
tr.v. sparged, sparg·ing, sparg·es
1. To spray or sprinkle.
2. To introduce air or gas into (a liquid).
Why they call rinsing beer wort sparging has always made me scratch my head. Probably using the other definition of spraying and sprinkling.
With wine, sparging entails injecting a non-oxygen containing inert gas like N2, He or Ar into the liquid and head space above the wine. If you so this for a few seconds, the inert gas will bubble out, taking dissolved oxygen (and some other good chemicals) with it. Then you cork/seal right afterwards. Wineries often bottle and/or keep their barrels under a N2 purge.
As a lab chemist, I can tell you that sparging is VERY efficient in removing oxygen from liquids and we often sparge prior to O2 sensitive reactions or prior to long term storage.
You can buy wine sparging systems, which usually consist of a spray can with a straw that you squirt into the wine prior to resealing. Proponents claim that vacuuming the wine is bad because it sucks out the finer essences.
Bass | | | |
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DukeRiley
McMinnville, OR
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2000
| | 02/05/2003 10:40 PM |
| In beer making the other definition does indeed apply. Sparging is the process of rinsing sugar from malt after the starch has been converted to sugar. In beer making, grain (malt) is held at a certain temperature activating enzymes that convert the starch in the grain into sugar. Once conversion takes place, sprinkling warm water over the converted grain, rinses out any sugar remaining in the grain and allows the brewer to improve their yield.
I have to admit, I was initially confused about the other definition. | |
Heater Allen Brewing
www.heaterallen.com | |
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Jeremy Matthew
Barrel Sampler
Posts:2067
| | 02/05/2003 11:38 PM |
| Duke,
Sparging refers to the removal of any unwanted elements by forcing another element through it. Sparging also occurs dfuring the winemaking process when they are going through the skin contact phase.
I didn't know about that process with beer -thanks for the info, quite interesting. | | | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts:13711
| | 02/06/2003 1:46 AM |
| I must admit, I have had generally good luck with vacu-vin-ing. BUT, I recently had one bad experience. Granted, I vacu-vin-ed a mostly empty 750 bottle, so I should not have exppected much. But, I got the flavors of petroleum in the wine. It was NAAAAAAAAAASTy.  | |
www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Destemmer
Posts:89
| | 02/06/2003 2:39 AM |
| TJ,
Your near-empty bottle experience makes sense from a science point of view. The more residual head-space you have when you evacuate, the more high volatility compounds you will suck out of wine into that low pressure head space. You get left with lower vapor pressure compounds, like petroleums and fusel oils. I can imagine it could get ugly! 
Bass | | | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts:13711
| | 02/06/2003 1:37 PM |
| bass--
that is fascinating, really.
I need to get me some 375s to use for this purpose.
Thanks for the science lesson, dude!  | |
www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
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