Theron wrote on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:29:01 -0700:


> "James Silverton" > wrote in
> message ...
>> sf wrote on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:35:44 -0700:
>>
>>>> "James Silverton" > wrote in
>>>> message ...
>>>>> Hello All!
>>>>>
>>>>> The recent threads on cooking with wine and using Vermouth
>>>>> prompted me to post this from Joe Yonan in today's
>>>>> Washington Post.
>>>>>
>>>>> Ask 10 cooks what they do with leftover wine and, trust
>>>>> me, at least half will respond, "What's leftover wine?" --

>>>>> James Silverton
>>>>> Potomac, Maryland
>>>>>
>>>>> Email, with obvious alterations:
>>>>> not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not
>>>> If it's a fine wine you served with dinner cover it with a
>>>> nitrogen blanket and recork it. If properly done, it will
>>>> last for months. I usually refrigerate recorked wine,
>>>> though it's not absolutely necessary. Vermouth, or any
>>>> fortified wine like Port, or Sherry, will hold its own if
>>>> it's just recorked for quite a long time. I guess the
>>>> "today" wines, red and white, we all know what to do with.
>>>>
>>>> Ed
>>>>
>>> I can't say nitrogen protects wine for months, but it can
>>> extend wine for a few (very few compared to a month) days. As far
>>> as decent "today" wines... they are made to drink
>>> TODAY (whatta concept), not in five to twenty years. So if you or
>>> anyone else has a problem with that, you're the one
>>> with the *problem*.
>>
>> I kind of doubt that a small injection of nitrogen would do
>> even as much as a vacuum pump. Given that nitrogen is
>> slightly less dense than air, you'd probably have to bubble
>> nitrogen thro' your wine for quite a time to have much
>> effect. Now argon, being quite a bit denser, might work but
>> it's got to be more costly. Carbon dioxide would perhaps work
>> too but I'd think you would be able to taste it, unlike
>> nitrogen and argon. James Silverton Potomac, Maryland
>>
> We use a product called "Private Reserve". You spray the
> nitrogen blanket onto the
> remaining wine in the bottle, and immediately recork firmly.
> This will keep a wine
> from oxidizing for at least a month, and possibly longer. I
> have a fair store of very old
> Bordeaux and Burgundies, all very sensitive to any more
> oxidation that they've already
> had from aging, and I haven't had any problem. I don't think a
> vacuum pump applied to a half full
> bottle will remove enough oxygen, especially for a very old
> red wine.

Now, I don't dispute that, if you could remove the air from above the
wine in a bottle you could well preserve the wine. However, how is it
done? As I said, I cannot see that nitrogen would displace the slightly
heavier air very quickly and it seems you would need a lot of USPC
quality gas.

There is a wine bottle attachment for food preserving vacuum pumps but
I've never tried it.
--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not