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GBLWhen it comes to saving that final glass at the end of the bottle or keeping your Champagne bubbling after opening everyone seems to have their own wine preservation technique. Have you ever seen a teaspoon resting in a bottle of sparkling wine? or a bottle of red wine re-corked on a bar? If you think these methods are used to preserve wine…then we have some serious myths to bust.
Wine preservation has long been an unknown territory; until the Romans came along.
The Roman Empire led the way for wine storage and preservation: many a bowl, jug and amphora were used to carry such large quantities of wine (even up to the battlefront). The barrier used to stop oxidisation was in fact olive oil! At the time, olive oil was the best way to preserve wine (however we do not recommend this method now, due to what can be a very unpleasant aftertaste). We now look at the present. Many methods have changed, morphed, graced our households & businesses to preserve our wine & Champagne. Other methods, however, have not. If you have heard that the teaspoon trick, re-corking… or even cling film covering an open bottle will preserve your precious bottle of wine… then all we have to say to that is YIKES!
Let us reveal to you the real myths of wine preservation…
First up: The classic teaspoon trick – We know 99.9% of you know this is rubbish but thought it would be fun to explore one of the most famous myths surrounding preservation for a second:
Legend has it that if you rest a metal teaspoon upside down into an opened bottle of Champagne or sparkling wine it will stay carbonated for longer. It has also been said that it will help to cool the air inside the bottle; therefore making the air denser. Apparently the air acts as a blanket on the surface of the wine and prevents bubbles from escaping. Although this information sounds plausible, putting a teaspoon in the top of a bottle, in fact, taints the flavour and texture of the champagne/sparkling wine and does not act as a barrier for CO2 exiting the opened bottle. Mythbusters* televised their own results about the teaspoon trick and did not detect any boost in the bubbles of the tea-spooned bottles. Rendering the Champagne or sparkling wine undrinkable, as there is no proper wine preservation in place.
*https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sparkling-wine-teaspoon-myth/
Second wine preservation method requires using a hand pump: Many hand pumps are available to purchase easily & many people decide to buy them due to their cheap price tag… however, they have a major downfall. Many of these pumps claim to create a sufficient vacuum to preserve the wine, once the bottle has been opened. Matt Kramer; the columnist for Wine Spectator wrote that “overnight 12 hours the vacuum is totally gone.”* Not only does a hand pump not create a perfect vacuum for the wine, but it also displaces the sediment within the liquid from over pumping. There is no way of specifically measuring a perfect vacuum for the wine, as it is based on the judgement from the user, rather than a solid measurement. So at best you are getting an expensive arm workout as you will more than likely have to dispose of the wine after a short period.
Therefore wine served from this device will give consumers a horrid gritty sip due to the flavours and sediment which will have been displaced by uncontrolled pumping. This gadget would only be suitable for the home as a short term solution, other than that it is not a solution for the on-trade or businesses that want to keep their stock fresh & flavourful for longer.
Stick a cork in it: There is a school of thought that goes along the line of… if you put a cork back into a bottle after opening it will be ok. This is like folding a packet of crisps in half to try and keep the inside fresh! It simply doesn’t work. Once the genie is out of the bottle (or cork in this case) you can’t put it back in and expect it to be fresh! This is due to the fact there is still an abundance of oxygen in the empty space between the cork and the wine after opening. So the wine still oxidises with the air already now in the bottle.
Lastly refrigeration: When opening a bottle of wine, sometimes the ideology that putting it into the fridge will prevent it from ageing properly. Although it has been said that colder temperatures slow down the chemical processes of the wine. This method does not stop the wine from oxidising. Even after 24 hours of being opened & stored in a fridge, the wine will have been tainted by oxygen.
These methods above are just a few of the wine preservation myths that have graced our on-trade and hospitality sector.
Do not put your reputation on the line because of some wine myths or cheap gadget promises.
What should wine & Champagne preservation look like?
The simple message is, you need to seal the wine & Champagne and on top of that, you need precision and accuracy to control oxidation and in the case of Champagne, to stop it going flat. The on-trade need super-fast, super simple and super reliable equipment to make sure that wine & Champagne preservation is at the forefront of their business. So they can eliminate waste, boost by the glass sales and delight their customers.
Bermar has created groundbreaking wine & Champagne preservation systems that preserve all wine & Champagne for up to 21 days. The technology within this system not only eliminates waste completely, but it also delights customers and boosts by the glass sales.
So how does it work?
Well, Bermar’s systems are powered by ePreserve technology. The worlds most advanced 2-in-1 preservation technology, that means you can preserve both still and sparkling wine with one system.
Still wine preservation
By removing the oxygen to a precisely controlled level, ePreserve technology effectively preserves wine without any risk to its subtle structure. A precisely controlled vacuum is created within the bottle… precision being essential to ensure that the maximum period of preservation is achieved without any damage to the subtle structure of the wine. If insufficient air is removed from the bottle then the wine will continue to oxidise. By removing just too much air the negative pressure will draw the delicate esters and phenols from the wine, detrimentally affecting the bouquet and ‘deadening’ the taste.
Sparkling wine preservation
ePreserve technology introduces a precisely calibrated infusion of CO2 into a sparkling wine bottle, thereby creating a pressure equilibrium and preventing any escape of CO2 from the wine itself. A valved stopper is placed in the bottle and clipped in place (replicating the wire around the original cork); the stopper retains the CO2 under pressure within the bottle and ‘locks in’ the natural fizz.
So now there is no need for olive oil, spoons, magic spells and even hand pumps. The only system needed for professional precise preservation is, in fact, Bermar’s professional wine & Champagne preservation system. The benefits to your business are endless.
If you’re interested in getting your own Bermar Preservation System, then call one of our expert team on +44 (0) 1473 612 062 and we can get you up and running in no-time.
