I have heard this happens often. You want to open that bottle of wine, but you only want one or two glasses. So you might weigh up whether or not to indulge or to leave it? You see, I just open it. 

If there is any left, I use a vacuum pump in hope to preserve it just enough and stick it in the fridge to slow down the unrelenting deterioration your wine suffers. Of course, all wine has a love/hate relationship with oxygen. It can be a wonderful pick me up, or, just a huge drag…. 

Now, having been in the wine trade in Australia, I have known about Winesave for years. I have never tried it though. I haven’t really needed to as there is generally someone to assist in emptying bottles of wine or the wines are rather robust that are ‘left over’ and are good the next day. However, during this pandemic, I needed to run my regular wine courses on-line. These are small groups I run locally and so I started like many other educators to deliver small bottles and go online (which is working rather well, incidentally).

What is it?

Winesave PRO is an argon gas canister that delivers the gas into any size bottle. The gas, which is inert, then forms a blanket on the wine protecting it from the air. It is a simple spray can with a small hose that you spray the gas inside the bottle.

What is it used for?

This is an argon gas preservation system that comes in a handy small canister. There are some brilliant large, professional argon gas systems that can be used on a large scale. This canister though, is useful for home use or small scale professional use.

After my first online session, I was not really happy with the quality of delicate whites. The issue is that you only ‘mostly’ fill small bottles but need to leave a small gap to allow people to open them and pour them without mess. Having to pour and deliver to allow a 48 hour sitting time for Co-vid conditions was also an issue with these whites. Hence, my interest in Winesave PRO.

After locating Winesave in the UK, I asked for their tips around small bottle preservation and they not only answered with some tips but sent me a bottle to try. 

So, I did.

Here is what I have found.

Winesave works.

It has its limitations, but to keep a wine in better condition for a short time, it really does work. 

I have done a home based experiment to test its limits and it effects. I have detailed this on ‘The Winesave PRO experiment‘. So, here are the pros and cons of using Winesave PRO.

The good …

• This is a convenient, a good size to handle and it is not cumbersome to use. 
• It is very simple to use and can be used immediately upon purchase.
• This is ideal for someone who wants to have just a glass or two at a time over a few days.
• It works for small bottles and large bottles.
• Of course, you can easily reapply the gas if you have poured a glass and wish to keep it another day or so.
• It also works if the bottles are moved around, but this was not tested except for a short period of movement during local delivery.
• Order, delivery and customer service was excellent. It is easy, quick and responsive.
• Supposedly, Winesave PRO will also work for sparkling wine. However, I have not tested this and it will require a champagne stopper for best results.

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The not so good …

• There is a time limit on the protection. I found with my small 100 ml bottles, the protection of a one second spray started to show oxidisation around 21 days.
• As the canister emptied, I found that a one second spray does not seem to work as well as protecting the wine. I assume, and I could be wrong, that perhaps not as much gas is delivered as with a fresh canister. 
• I had a canister that worked well for a while and then the nozzle broke. It was about ¾ used and as it was a sample given to me, I just purchased another one to replace it. I will see how robust the two I have purchased, and started to use, are.

One final thing

Kindly, the team at Winesave have offered any readers a promotional code for a 15% discount if you want to use it yourself. (I have tested this too and it, too, works!)

Promo code: 2021WINEMUSE15

Visit Winesave for more information.