To vacuum or not to vacuum? THAT is the question!

[Gabriel Geller]

Hi there!

Do you use a vacuum pump for your unfinished bottles of wine? If you don't, why? I know it's not necessarily the best way to preserve the wine but you don't always have an empty plastic bottle at hand and that looks so bad anyway...

I would love to revive this question that had already been discussed on this forum a while ago when Rogov was around.

Personally I usually use a vaccum pump but I never pump out all the air, only at 70% or so.

Best,

GG

[Warren B]

Pesonally I don't try to preserve open wine. Most good wine will open and improve over a day or two. Why would you want to keep an open bottle longer? LeChaim!

[Gary J]

Maybe it was the power of Rogov suggestion, but I found that (as Rogov suggested) the aromas were vacuumed out with whatever air was vacuumed out and the wine never tasted the same after being vacuumed.

These days if I don't have a half bottle around or a plastic bottle I will likely just pop the cork back in & stick it in the fridge. Though I heard the idea & like it (haven't tried it yet) of freezing the wine in ice cube trays to cook with it...

[Isaac C]

I stopped vacuuming - I don't think it helped and it may have hurt the wines. If I am drinking within a day I usually keep it in the bottle, sometimes I transfer to the plastic bottle and squeeze out the air. If it is for more that a day or two I always try to put it in the plastic bottle and it has worked pretty well.

[Andrew Breskin]

There's a great video blog out there of Gary demonstrating wine preservation in a plastic bottle. Most wine bars or restaurants will use nitrogen to fill the bottles and slow the oxidation, but if it's for personal use, I find the vacuum to be ineffective, and will transfer into a smaller container and refrigerate.

[Mike BG]

I used to vacuum, almost religiously. However, I always wondered what was going on with the wine when you could smell such a rich aroma from the vacuum pump! After reading Rogov, I decided to stop. I never really keep wine for longer than a day, so I just put back the cork and put the bottle in the fridge. I have found it a far better method than the vacuum. I don't have the patience to pour it into a smaller plastic bottle and expel the air before closing ...

[Gabriel Geller]

Well I anyway rarely have a bottle open for more than one or 2 days but I've not noticed so far any harm done to the wine by using my method however I don't store them in the fridge unless it's a white or a Pinot Noir.