Single Bottle Wine Chiller

[audioguy]

I (for medicinal purposes only ) try to have a glass of red wine each evening, even if we are not having wine with a meal. I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive single bottle wine cooler we can keep on the kitchen counter to hold the wine for the few days the bottle lasts.

Any recommendations?

 

[mimesis]

I highly recommend using an inert gas. I investigated this and settled on using something like Wine Enthusiast's Private Reserve. You use the long straw and insert betwen the cork, which you have angled and ready to close up and zap some gas, which is heavier than air and thus protects the wine from oxidation. I have found that it works remarkably well for at least three days. Other tips are to tilt the wine bottle so that there is no air between the liquid and the cork - makes it harder for air to seep in. Another apparently useful, free method is to freeze your wine. I've never tried this and am skeptical due to my feeling that crystallization of the water will change the texture...but that may be the lay person in me and not the scientist. Lastly, there are vacuum devices; some say, and I would tend to agree, that you also suck out the aroma/life/mystical benefits of wine when you use a vacuum.

Next time you occasion a bar with a large wine-by-the glass setup, you may notice that the bottles sit in a case with feeder tubes; these typically are inert gas machines. I considered a 5-unit version, the smallest I could find but 1) that's crazy for a single family house 2) I dont' open five bottles at once nor do I finish more than 2 bottles in a week - at best 3) it's crazy expensive.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

We've had good experience with the Preservino devices.

 

[audioguy]

We've had good experience with the Preservino devices.

Thanks, Kal. That looks great.

 

[rsbeck]

There are two issues:

1) Refigeration

2) Aeration/Oxidation

To lengthen the life of your wine after opening, it is imperative that you slow the further aeration so it doesn't oxidize before you would like to drink it.

I've used both inert gas and vacuum pump solutions -- both work to slow further aeration. I've kept the vacuum pump solution around for times when I'm out of inert gas and I end up using it often because it works well and that reduces my incentive to keep buying argon cartridges. It does not suck the aroma out of the wine. Depending on the wine, a little more aeration can be a good thing and your wine may evolve further and improve over the following days. I find this often to be the case.

Refrigeration is not absolutely necessary, but in addition to an aeration solution it can help.

If you don't have a wine cellar or temperature controlled wine storage unit, it is helpful to have something to cool your wine to serving temperature.

Otherwise, your wine may come up to "room temperature" and depending on the temperature of the room, this may not be an optimum serving temperature.

The adage to serve at "room temperature" was formulated in parts of the world and in dwellings where room temperature was seldom higher than the low 60's.

 

[audioguy]

Thanks. We do have a small wine refrigerator (50 bottles) in our basement level but the wine that I was interested in keeping cool was that wine I brought upstairs to consume. I have been using a vacuum system on opened wine for quite some time (see http://www.foodsaver.com/Product.aspx?id=c&cid=89&pid=274) and it works quite well. The guy at the wine store told me (last evening) that if I don't want to spend the kind of money a good single bottle wine cooler costs , just seal it, and either (a) stick it in the refrigerator, (b) return it to our wine refrigerator or (c) just leave it out on the counter and drink it more quickly!!

I may ask my wife for something like what Kal suggested for my birthday coming up this summer.

 

[rsbeck]

The item that Kal suggested looks like a sweet piece of gear.

In the winter, there are places upstairs where I can keep an open bottle and it will stay at serving temperature.

In summer, I vacuum seal the bottle and put it back in the wine cellar between sessions.

Unless it is a particular kind of white or rose', I feel the regular refer is too cold.

If it's an older red wine, I keep it standing up so the sediment will stay settled on the bottom.

I keep my wine cellar at 57º and I find, as a rule of thumb, that if I remove a red wine from the cellar and let it stand about an hour before drinking, it will come up to around 62º, which is an excellent temperature to serve most red wine. Generally, I also open it as soon as I get upstairs, so it can breathe in the bottle for an hour before serving.

Sometimes, I open it and let it stand in the cellar for a few hours prior to bringing it upstairs if I feel it needs a lot of air before serving.

I still bring it up about an hour before consuming so it can come up to serving temperature.

White wines, I will bring out of the cellar just before consuming.

White wines, too, often open up and become more interesting as they warm up a little and breathe.

If the brand Kal suggested (I am eyeing the Supremo model) works as advertised and doesn't spend its cartridges too fast, it could solve a lot of problems with one piece of gear.

Of course, as an audiophile, you are duty bound to resist any one-box solution!

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Of course, as an audiophile, you are duty bound to resist any one-box solution!

It does mean that jitter is not an issue (unless you consume too much too quickly).

 

[audioguy]

It does mean that jitter is not an issue (unless you consume too much too quickly).

Cute !!

 

[rsbeck]

Put the right power cord on that sucker and it'll turn your two buck Chuck into Lafite Rothschild.

 

[garylkoh]

When I lived alone and liked to crack open a bottle of Lafite Rothschild once in a while by myself when listening to music, I would pour half of it into an empty half-bottle. Fill it up right up to the neck, spritz a little Private Reserve in, cork it up, and put it into the refrigerator. Sometimes, I would go off on my travels, come back 3 weeks later, and it would be even better than the first half of the bottle. Seemed to work even for the older vintages which are more delicate and prone to oxidation.

 

[mep]

Good thing I don't like wine because it is way too much of a pain in the ass for me to deal with on many levels. Beer is simple. You put it in the fridge and let it get cold, take it out, open it up, and your good to go. The last thing I need is one more neurotic pastime. Maybe beer is the alcohol equivalent of digital audio. Digital audio is quick and easy compared to analog. Analog is a pain in the ass compared to digital just like wine is a pain in the ass compared to beer. So if you are a wine drinker and an analog lover, your life is more complicated than if you are a digital loving beer drinker. So I guess that puts me somewhere in the middle because I'm a beer drinking analog lover.

With my luck if I was a wine drinker, I would open up a bottle of wine to let it breathe and then go and adjust my tonearm. I would get caught up in doing some preventative maintenance and forget about my wine breathing and it would breathe too long and maybe run out of breath or something. And then that would mess up my sniffing and swirling routine when I poured the wine because I wouldn't know how long to sniff and swirl because the wine breathed too long.

 

[Mike]

Good thing I don't like wine because it is way too much of a pain in the ass for me to deal with on many levels. Beer is simple. You put it in the fridge and let it get cold, take it out, open it up, and your good to go. The last thing I need is one more neurotic pastime. Maybe beer is the alcohol equivalent of digital audio. Digital audio is quick and easy compared to analog. Analog is a pain in the ass compared to digital just like wine is a pain in the ass compared to beer. So if you are a wine drinker and an analog lover, your life is more complicated than if you are a digital loving beer drinker. So I guess that puts me somewhere in the middle because I'm a beer drinking analog lover.

With my luck if I was a wine drinker, I would open up a bottle of wine to let it breathe and then go and adjust my tonearm. I would get caught up in doing some preventative maintenance and forget about my wine breathing and it would breathe too long and maybe run out of breath or something. And then that would mess up my sniffing and swirling routine when I poured the wine because I wouldn't know how long to sniff and swirl because the wine breathed too long.

Do what I do: Get the wine labeled "Best before Friday"

 

[flez007]

I have heard that wine is good for lowering cholesterol while improving metabolism at the same time, but not sure if it has to be red wine only - did your doctor specified red-wine only?