Our tips for preserving an open bottle of wine

Updated on November 29, 2022

This article is primarily aimed at restaurant owners who offer wine by the glass. With this practice, you open bottles without finishing them, which can lead to waste. Don't panic! By following our advice, you can expect to keep your wine fresh for up to 5 days after opening. Even better, our selection of professional tools ensures you can maintain the quality of your wines for several weeks.

Here are our tips for preserving opened wines. They can also be applied at home when a bottle is not finished.

3 tips for proper wine storage

If you offer wines in your bar or restaurant, you naturally want to maximize your profit from every last drop. It would be a shame to spoil a good wine by letting it breathe…

Here are some techniques for effectively preserving your wine after opening, thus ensuring its quality in the following days. These techniques vary depending on the type of wine, so you will need to adapt them according to the properties of the opened wine. For example, some white wines are very sweet, like Sauternes : these wines can be kept longer than others since the sugar helps preserve an opened white wine.

The quality and preservation of an opened bottle of wine depend primarily on temperature , light, and the amount of oxygen present in the bottle. These are the elements that can spoil your wine.

Place your bottle in the refrigerator

Keep your bottles away from high temperatures , which accelerate the oxidation process. Avoid proximity to heat sources; ideally, the temperature should not exceed 15°C.

For white wine, we recommend storing it in the cellar or refrigerator. Professionals advise keeping opened red wine in the fridge for up to 5 days, depending on the wine, and taking it out a few hours before serving so it reaches the right temperature.

Keep bottles away from light sources

Red wine is sensitive to light . Avoid storing your open bottle in a room with too much daylight or in direct sunlight. Ideally, it should be stored in a cupboard or in a crate.

Close the bottle immediately after serving

Finally, you need to limit the oxidation of the wine: the air that comes into contact with the wine creates a chemical reaction, and your wine gradually loses its balance and goes flat.

It is therefore essential to remember to reseal the bottle immediately after serving. Traditionally, it is recommended to replace the original cork upside down. You can also transfer the wine into a smaller bottle: the fuller the bottle, the less the wine will spoil.

The best preservation tools for professionals

To keep an open bottle of wine fresh for several weeks, we recommend using a professional system specifically designed for preserving open bottles or for wine dispensers. The quality of your wine will be maintained for several weeks. We have selected the best preservation tools for you.

Presorvac

Presorvac stands out for its efficiency. It's a simple system that removes oxygen from the bottle using rotating pressure. This process prevents oxidation, thus ensuring better wine preservation.

This system works for white, red, and sparkling wines. Its relatively high cost (around 350 euros) is quickly offset by its effectiveness.

Vacuvin

This system consists of a small pump and a rubber stopper which allow the air to be pumped out of the bottle and the wine to be preserved for two to three days.

Vacuvin can be considered tedious since pumping the bottles can take up to 30 seconds. It's a delicate operation because the rubber valve must not be broken by excessive pumping.

This tool is quite simple and affordable (around fifteen euros), and pays for itself fairly quickly. It's designed for short-term storage, for relatively small bottles that don't require several months of aging.

The Advineo Tower

This tool allows you to reseal opened bottles for better preservation. It uses a vacuum seal, a natural method that prevents oxidation of the wine remaining in the bottle. This system is suitable for red, white, and sparkling wines!

In the specific case of sparkling wines, CO2 is injected into the bottle before it is resealed.

Nitrogen systems

These systems allow opened bottles to be preserved for two to three weeks. They work by replacing the wine with food-grade nitrogen each time the bottle is dispensed. This nitrogen prevents the remaining wine from oxidizing. Nitrogen systems also have the advantage of regulating the wine's temperature.

Nitrogen-based systems are typically used in restaurants that offer high-quality, expensive wines, which are therefore in low demand. Such preservation methods are relatively costly, as maintenance must also be considered. They are effective systems, but best suited to premium products.

Coravin

This device, which recently appeared in the United States, offers an original solution to the problem of preserving opened wines. Instead of having to reseal the bottle after opening, Coravin proposes... not opening it. A hollow needle pierces the cork to extract the wine, much like a syringe. During extraction, the needle injects a neutral gas.

This process allows for the extraction of wine over several months without altering it. This unique system is quite expensive, costing around €300 for the syringe alone, not to mention the price of the gas cartridges. This technique proves advantageous for grand cru wines and prestigious labels, but less cost-effective for less prestigious wines.

The revolution in wine distribution

Other methods circumvent the issue of preserving open bottles of wine by eliminating the bottle altogether. This involves offering a wine dispenser or another system for preserving and displaying the product.

Bag in box

This system revolutionizes wine service, as the bottle is replaced by a "bag-in-box." In other words, a bag-in-box is used to hold the wine. This system is particularly common in restaurants for serving carafes of wine. The tradition of serving wine by the glass remains linked to serving by the bottle.

Advineo

This is a wine-by-the-glass dispenser. The idea is original and allows for serving wine by the glass while promising optimal preservation of bottled wine. This system keeps wine fresh for up to three weeks under a neutral gas (nitrogen and argon), maintaining the wine at the correct serving temperature.

One of the positive aspects of this system is its presentation and aesthetics. With its stylish design, the wine dispenser can be placed on the counter to present wines to customers.

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