Advice on wine preservation..?!
Advice on wine preservation..?
i'm new to wine drinking... mainly because i have always liked sweeter drinks but i'm getting into it more and more and have fallen in love with a local white zin.. my problem is that one i pop the cork it doesnt want to go back in most of the time so i'm wanting to find a good way to preserve the wine between drinking occasions... anywhere from a day to a few days.. sometimes even a week... my mom-in-law has a stopper/pourer that she got in a gift set but it doesnt work that well... what should i look for? should i just get a stopper without a pourer? or should i try my best to put the cork back in? what about a vaccum sealer..
Answers:
Mrorphs answer is pretty right on if you're drinking white zin, brand or shape of container doesn't matter with it, and it will only last up to 5 days in the fridge. If you don't want to get a vacuum sealer, which is nice but still doesn't really extend the life of the wine, just slows down oxygenation, which is what will change the taste of the wine--and why people swirl their glass or leave a bottle of red uncorked for a while before they drink it...) just turn the cork around that came on the bottle and stick it in backwards (it's not gonna go back in the way it came out)
If you are new and open to trying other things, I always recommend trying out a riesling or gewurtztraminer to white zin drinkers. They are sweet and tasty, and will open you up to newer flavors (they're white, and two good brands for them are Columbia Winery Riesling and Fetzer Gewurtztraminer) Still, they'll only last in the fridge up to 4-5 days... Red wines 3 days on the shelf after opened.
Have fun!
Here is a huge assortment of stoppers: http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=utf8&node=660...
Wine typically won't last a week once opened, two - three days tops. I tey to make it a practice to drink it after it is opened and no later than the following day.
Some of the better box wines have made it easier to preserve wine for up to 4 weeks in some cases due to the plastic container inside the box.
Just get anything cheap. White Zin isn't anything to be worrying about. It's cheap and won't really change it's taste like a good red.
vacuum sealers work pretty well, but the wine will keep in the fridge with the cork replaced for 4-6 days. no offense but the dropoff on white zin isn't that great in bottle to box. and in the box the wine is perfectly sealed for as long as you want.
I have had really good luck with the Vac-u-Vin vacuum wine sealer. You just place the stopper in the bottle, put the pump on it, pump until it clicks and you are done. I always put the wine in the fridge after doing this and it will keep for up to a week. I bought mine at Bed Bath and Beyond for 10 bucks. Great investment. Another option for you would be a can of inert gas, such as Private Preserve (available on the web: just Google it) which you spray into the bottle before you recork it. The purpose of this is to replace the oxygen and carbon dioxide lost when you open the bottle. Whatever option you choose the wine will still oxidize slightly, but these products do a good job in retaining the original aromas and flavors. Hope this helps!!