sot's Ethicurean list

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethicurean

http://www.greenacresd.com/

http://www.counterpointsd.com/

http://www.killdevilspiritco.com/

http://www.craft-commerce.com/

http://www.julianca.com/media/grape_stomp.htm

3rd Sat. Ramona
http://ramona.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/ramona-shuttle-offers-special-service-for-weekend-winos

http://www.jeremysonthehill.com/

exotics - booze holy grails

Marpha brandy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marpha_brandy
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marpha-Cyber/165200060208365?fref=ts
http://frombankerstobackpackers.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/dscf2114.jpg http://frombankerstobackpackers.wordpress.com/tag/marpha-brandy/
http://www.farecompare.com/flights/San_Diego-SAN/Kathmandu-KTM/market.html
http://www.nepaleseabroad.com/category/united-states/
http://www.sandiegofoundation.org/Contact.php
http://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=himalayan&find_loc=San+Diego%2C+CA

wood, casks, aging, et al

Experimental Bourbon re small barrels

Source: Buffalo Trace Distillery
http://acorkabove.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=88_93_155

 Sometimes, not all experiments are successful. Buffalo Trace Distillery learned this the hard way with its small barrel experiments started in 2006.

Using 5, 10, and 15 gallon barrels, the company filled each small barrel with the same mash bill (Buffalo Trace Rye Bourbon Mash #1) around the same time, and aged them side by side in a warehouse for six years.

The results were less than stellar. Even though the barrels did age quickly, and picked up the deep color and smokiness from the char and wood, each bourbon yielded less wood sugars than typical from a 53 gallon barrel, resulting in no depth of flavor.

While Buffalo Trace is NOT releasing these experiments, the Distillery did feel it was important to release their findings. The company hopes others can learn from such an experiment, just as they have.

"As expected, the smaller 5 gallon barrel aged bourbon faster than the 15 gallon version. However, it's as if they all bypassed a step in the aging process and just never gained that depth of flavor that we expect from our bourbons. Even though these small barrels did not meet our expectations, we feel it's important to explore and understand the differences between the use of various barrel sizes," said Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley.

Each of the three small barrel bourbons were tasted annually to check on their maturation progress, then left alone to continue aging, hoping the taste would get better with time. Finally, after six years, the team at Buffalo Trace concluded the barrels were not going to taste any better and decided to chalk up the experiment to a lesson learned.

"These barrels were just so smoky and dark, we just confirmed the taste was not going to improve. The largest of the three barrels, the 15 gallon, tasted the best, but it still wasn't what we would deem as meeting our quality standards. But instead of just sweeping this experiment under the rug and not talking about it, we felt it was important to share what we learned, especially in light of the debate about usage of small barrels. It's one experiment we are not likely to repeat," said Wheatley.

These small barrel experiments are part of the more than 1,500 experimental barrels of whiskey aging in the warehouses of Buffalo Trace Distillery.

= = =

How One Man's Aging Whiskey in a Week, Not Years

6.3.13 Andrew Tarantola Gizmodo

http://gizmodo.com/how-one-mans-aging-whiskey-in-a-week-not-years-511031078

commentary

http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.com/2013/06/i-must-govern-clock-not-be-governed-by.html

The aging process is an essential part of whiskey-making. The charred oak barrel gives the liquor its caramel color and imparts rich, subtle flavors. Problem is, this soaking step takes years to complete. But one enterprising distillery has figured out how to ripen sour mash in a fraction of the time.

Cleveland Whiskey is an upstart distillery located in, you guessed it, Cleveland, Ohio. Owner Tom Lix recognized the growing demand for whiskey, as did Makers Mark, and realized that the conventional method of producing whiskey simply wasn't fast enough to meet that demand. But rather than water down an existing recipe, Lix invented a new method of making whiskey.

 

“I took apart a couple of used barrels, and it didn't seem like the whiskey soaked very deep,” he told Forbes. “So I started experimenting with pressure to get the spirit to soak deeper into pore structure.”

The details behind Cleveland's proprietary system are closely-guarded company secrets but, as Lix explained, the general process is similar to the vacuum marinators you see on late-night infomercials:

The spirit ages in a whiskey barrel like normal for the first six months of its life. Then it is deposited in stainless steel tanks. Meanwhile, the barrel it aged in is cut up, processed, and put into the tank as well. Within the tank, the spirit is agitated, and undergoes a series of differences in pressure to squeeze in and out of the wood pores.

After a week in the tubs, the hyper-aged whiskey is ready for bottling. Cleveland Whiskey hopes to produce 7,000 cases this year and another 20,000 cases in 2014. Check out the Cleveland Whiskey website to see if it's served near you.

= = =

 

Past Their Prime : When is a superaged spirit too old to drink?

3.18.13 Kara Newman Slate

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/drink/2013/03/superaged_spirits_how_old_is_too_old_for_whiskey_gin_and_chartreuse.html 

The first time I tasted a superaged spirit—a rare 50-year-old Glenfiddich single malt scotch—I was taken aback. Not by the whiskey itself, but by the rapturous swooning of the whiskey geeks all around me at a tasting hosted by the whiskey brand. “It’s chewy,” one commented, smacking his lips for emphasis. “It’s kaleidoscopic,” another assessed. “It tastes like cigar tobacco and leather … and then caramel and spice … and then I taste oak … and then … ” And finally: “It’s been almost 10 minutes and I’m still tasting it!”

Their reactions weren’t surprising: In the world of wine and spirits, we’ve been told that older is always better. Spirits producers and bartenders have capitalized on this belief, releasing old and rare vintages at an increasing clip and selling them at premium prices. To a certain extent, the logic makes sense: unaged “white dog” whiskey can be good, 17-year-old scotch can be great, and 20-year-old bourbon can be mind-blowing. But to my tongue, that 50-year-old Glenfiddich was delicious but not awe-inspiring. Are some supervintage spirits just too old?

“Yes,” Dave Pickerell emphatically says. As a former master distiller for Maker’s Mark in Kentucky for 14 years and the current master distiller for Hillrock Estate Distillery in New York’s Hudson Valley, Pickerell has aged his fair share of whiskeys. “It is possible for a spirit to get too old. Sometimes older is better—but sometimes it’s just older.”

There’s a lot of debate about optimal aging times—particularly for whiskey—and the ranges vary further still depending on how the spirit is made. But here’s a good rule of thumb: If it was aged in a barrel, those extra years might mean extra flavor. If it wasn’t, age is unlikely to correlate with quality.

When it comes to barrel-aged spirits like whiskey and brandy, Pickerell points to two key variables: the history of the barrel and the climate it’s stored in. Bourbon, for example, is aged in brand-new barrels in relatively dry conditions. By comparison, scotch is aged in previously used barrels in a relatively humid climate.

What distinguishes these two approaches is what Pickerell refers to as “the tea-bag effect”: The first time a tea bag (or barrel) is used, there’s more flavor to draw out. Resting in brand-new barrels, bourbon needs less time to extract what Pickerell calls “wood goodies”—it sucks vanilla and caramel flavors, as well as spice-like notes, out of the wood with ease. Many of those same bourbon barrels, once emptied, make their way to Scotland, where they are used to age Scotch whisky. At this point, most of the “wood goodies” have been depleted, so scotch often needs a longer aging time to suck out the remainders. Evaporation plays a role, too: In the dry climate favored by bourbon distillers, liquid evaporates more quickly, and the product becomes concentrated more quickly.

Pickerell puts the ideal aging range for rye (whiskey made with rye as its primary component, as opposed to corn or other grains) between nine and 11 years, while the “sweet spot” for bourbon (made with corn as its primary ingredient) is anywhere from six to 10 years. And scotch? “While it depends on the type and style,” he says, “20 years is a good number.”

But these aren’t necessarily hard and fast rules; there are plenty of delectable two-decade-old bourbons out there. Pickerell has had his share of favorites, too. “Pappy Van Winkle 20-year-old is a very tasty bourbon, not too tanniny,” he says. (Tannins—another byproduct of contact with oak—create that dry, unpleasantly puckery sensation in the mouth.) “But the 23-year-old is very tanniny.”

Three years can make that great a difference? “It doesn’t have to be three years,” he responds. “It can be six months. Sometimes it goes over the cliff and never comes back because there’s too much wood in it.”

Wood type plays a role, too. Japanese whiskey offers a useful example. Since Japan traditionally didn’t have access to French or American oak, particularly after World War II shut off Western supplies, Japan’s scotch-like whiskeys are aged in Mizunara, also known as Japanese oak. The tight grain of Mizunara, explains Gardner Dunn, an American representative for Japan’s Suntory Whisky, means that more time is needed to release flavors from the wood. As a result, it’s not unusual to see 25- to 30-year-old Japanese whiskeys. Suntory recently released a 50-year-old bottling, which has been billed as Japan’s most expensive single malt but isn’t available in the U.S.

The benefits of aging whiskey and brandy in barrels—up to a point—are clear. But what about spirits that don’t need to suck up “wood goodies” for their flavor, like vodka, gin, and most liqueurs? A lack of barrel time isn’t stopping some bartenders from experimenting with “vintage” bottling—but there’s no reason to think those bottles have gotten better with age. A bottled 80-proof spirit, if kept in a cool and dry environment, will keep more or less indefinitely, though “it won’t improve,” according to Pickerell. But bottled liquors below 80 proof are more volatile. What’s more, botanicals (the industry term for herbs, spices, flowers, and other added flavorings) may change in flavor over time and not always for the better.

At Pouring Ribbons—the thoughtful East Village bar dubbed by Imbibe magazine as the “best new cocktail bar” of 2012—co-owner Troy Sidle has assembled a noteworthy spread of 15 vintage Chartreuse bottles, all sourced from his own collection and spanning up to 70 years old. 

I had the opportunity to sample a 1994 bottling of Yellow Chartreuse alongside a new bottle, courtesy of Tim Master, a representative of Frederick Wildman & Sons, the New York-based importer of Chartreuse. Eighteen years made a big difference: Though still drinkable, the older liqueur had faded from a trademark sunny yellow to a pale straw hue, and the botanicals were muted. The older Chartreuse tasted of mellow honey and anise, while the newer one contained bright cinnamon, vanilla, and mint notes. The discrepancy might have been the result of oxidization in the bottle or perhaps a sign that the recipe had evolved over the decades. Probably both.

The effects of aging on Chartreuse may be unpredictable—though not necessarily unpleasant—but other bottles are always best kept on the shelf. I found this out the hard way: sipping a 1970s-era “vintage martini” served at a Tanqueray event to commemorate what would have been Frank Sinatra’s birthday.

Poured at Mulberry Street Bar in Little Italy, a dark-paneled dive where Old Blue Eyes was known to enjoy his share of martinis, this one would have disappointed Sinatra for sure. Left in the bottle for decades, the juniper that ordinarily gives gin its perky, piney note had blunted (another example of those unstable botanicals). And mixing that flabby gin with an elderly bottle of vermouth did it no favors. 

Tanqueray rep Angus Winchester conceded that this was essentially a stunt martini. “After 10 years, we don’t recommend it,” explained Winchester, who stirred martinis in a gallone, an Italian pitcher used for making several drinks at a go. “It gets out of balance.” Although there was some magic to sharing a martini with Sinatra’s ghost, in the end, it was a conceptual drink better left to the imagination.

And while there’s nothing wrong with the occasional conceptual drink, if taste is what you’re after, it’s best to regard superaged spirits with skepticism. I, for one, intend to keep my gin young and sprightly, my whiskey middle-aged and mellow, and my history in a book—not in my glass.

Southern California Whiskey Club incl Santa Monica & Sherman Oaks notes

7.2.13 Sherman Oaks travel notes

Amtrak #583 SD Old Town 2:46pm, arrive Union Station (LA) 5:40pm
$37, $58 business class

Metrolink #121 Union Station 5:55pm ( #123 6:40pm backup ),
 arrive Van Nuys 6:23pm ( 7:08pm backup )
 $7.25 ( "Ventura County Line 100 Series" ), age 65+ 50% off w/ photo ID

cab from Van Nuys Metrolink station :  south on Van Nuys Blvd,
 right (west) on Ventura Blvd 6 blocks to Blu Jam Cafe 15045 Ventura Blvd
est. $20, approx. 5 mi.

cab from Sherman Oaks event 8:40pm  to Van Nuys Amtrak station
est. $20, approx. 5 mi.

Amtrak #796 Van Nuys 9:05pm,  arrive SD Old Town 12:51am
$39, $59 business class ( well worth it to sleep much easier )

total, incl. $35 event ticket & public transit $158-178 est.
- - -
variables

Amtrak southbound return trip
Last daily Amtrak south leaves Van Nuys 9:05pm
to catch usual 10:10pm from Union Station to SD Old Town 12:51am
per http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/536/483/Pacific-Surfliner-Schedule-040113.pdf
Event start 7:30pm, leave via cab no later than 8:40pm for Van Nuys Amtrak 9:05pm

Amtrak northbound
usual 2:46pm from SD Old Town doesn't go further north than Union Station (downtown L.A.) 5:40pm arrival
Next earliest train is noon from SD Santa Fe station downtown (parking is a challenge)
 or from Solana Beach Amtrak 12:34pm
 to arrive Van Nuys 3:31pm ( Union Station 2:45pm )
http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/536/483/Pacific-Surfliner-Schedule-040113.pdf

Sherman Oaks / Blu Jam Cafe 15045 Ventura Blvd
Roughly five miles from Van Nuys Amtrak/Metrolink station,
at least a $20 cab ride south, either on 405 Fwy or
 Van Nuys Blvd then right (west) 6 blocks on Ventura Blvd
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=218435911468422735208.0004dd807db5f92faa0e4

Metrolink southbound return trip
last trip south to Union Station from Van Nuys 5:45pm = unavailable for 10:10pm Amtrak to SD
Metrolink northbound   "18 miles"
leave Union Station 3:15p, 3:36pm, 4:25pm, 5:10pm, 5:55pm, 6:40pm
 arrive Van Nuys 3:43pm, 4:03pm, 4:53pm, 5:38pm, 6:23pm, 7:08pm
http://www.metrolinktrains.com/schedules/line/name/Ventura%20County/service_id/1141.html
= = =

130514 double tasting SDWC whiskey benefit notes, esp. re Santa Monica

Hotels : Best Western, right on #704 bus line, Comfort Inn, near Daily Pint, the Ambrose only if there is tail in the wind

#704 Metrolink bus from Santa Monica Blvd & 20th in Santa Monica
to Union Station took 100 minutes in Tue. noonday traffic.
Bus fare is $1.50
http://www.metro.net/riding_metro/bus_overview/images/704.pdf
That boarding stop is one block from the Best Western in Santa Monica, twelve or fifteen blocks from the Daily Pint, 2300 block of Pico Blvd, standard SCWC venue.
Also review prices at Comfort Inn 2815 Olympic or Pico

Alternative to lengthy bus ride is leg between Union Station & same bus route via Red Line, transferring at Vermont & Santa Monica Blvd station.
Easiest but very expensive dining is Pacific Dining Car, 2700 Wilshire Blvd, because it's open 24/7. Bar & wine list are limited & very expensive. Ask for dessert menu for ports & sherries.
Places at top of list to try
Buffalo club 1500 block Olympic, closed Mondays. Kitchen open til midnight.
Bistro of Santa Monica.

resale

Wine Investing Prerequisites
http://winefolly.com/tutorial/wine-investment-guide/

Prepare to Wait 6-10 Years

Wine is not typically a fast turnaround investment. Once you invest, expect to wait a minimum of 5 years before selling. If you want to build a short term portfolio, look into En premier wines from Bordeaux.

Minimum 3+ Bottles of Investment Wine

Most wine auction sites prefer to sell wine in sets of 3, 6, 12 and 13 (the latter is for a collector who wants to try a bottle). By purchasing 3 or more bottles, you also give yourself the opportunity to start collecting verticals of single wines. Some wine exchanges require full cases.

Professional Storage is Recommended

Storing wine in an insured temperature controlled facility is the best way to guarantee that your wine has excellent provenance and will sell. Think of it this way, if you were buying wine from auction, would you risk your money on a case that wasn’t professionally stored? Wine storage starts at about $18/mo for a locker that will hold 7-9 cases of wine. Brokers and merchants in the UK prefer a wine that is “In Bond” which means it’s purchased and stored in a bonded warehouse that avoids the costly 20% excise tax.

Expect to Spend $8,000+ to Get Going

When you add up the cost of wine storage (at a minimum of $360/yr), insurance and the hassle of selling your collector wine, it’s a good idea to start with a sizable value of wine assets. As an example of what to expect, the Wine Investment Fund in London requires a minimum of a £10,000 for a startup expense.

Selling Your Wine Investment
Wine Auctions and How They Work

If you’re in the US you’ll most likely be liquidating your wines through an auction of some kind. In a wine auction your wine is sent to the auction warehouse and then auctioned to the highest bidder. Online wines auctions act a little more like ebay than a traditional auction. There are many different auctions houses around the United States including:
Vinofolio vinofolio.com
Acker, Merral & Condit ackerwines.com
K & L Wine Merchants klwines.com
Christie’s www.christies.com/wine
WineBid winebid.com
Spectrum Wine Auctions www.spectrumwineauctions.com

When you consign your wine the auction house will take a cut of the sale. The commission ranges from about 0% (if you accept store credit) to 20% of the sale. There is also usually a minimum consignment amount anywhere from $1,000 – $10,000 of wine. With online bidding, oftentimes you’ll have the power to either accept or decline a bid(if it’s under the valued mark).

The Wine Stock Market

UNITED KINGDOM ONLY There are now three wine exchanges in the UK: Berry Bros. & Rudd (BBX), London International Vintners Exchange (Liv-ex) and Cavex. The three programs focus mainly on top Bordeaux and also handle logistics. In the UK, wine investments are stored in ‘bonded’ temperature controlled warehouses. Bonded wines avoid the 20% excise tax but also must remain in a warehouse until the tax is paid. These wines are very desirable to international buyers, restaurants and brokers. If you invest in these markets it is possible to never even see your wine.

Berry Bros & Rudd and Cavex are available for any consumer with a few prerequisites.

Set Wine Investment Goals

Getting started with investing in wine is a lot like any regular investment. Figure out what you want your wine to pay for. Perhaps your next wine country vacation? Or maybe you’d like to have an underground cache of rare gems to be enjoyed with family and friends. What you choose will affect what kinds of wines you should buy as well as what types of ancillary expenses you’ll have. For instance, if you want to have a cache of wine in your home, you’ll need a cellar and wine insurance.




What are Investment Wines?
An investment wine should have all the traits of an age-worthy wine, but it also should be in demand when it sells. The most in-demand investment wines are fine Bordeaux and Grand Cru Burgundy. Prestige wines such as these start at $600/bottle and are offered in 6 bottle wooden boxes. When buying in this market, buy by the case and do everything you can to create a paper trail of provenance to show the wine is not fake. If you plan on investing in French wines, it’s importantant to make your wine easy to sell on the internationl market.

Is My Wine Worth Cellaring?

Besides wines from France, Napa Cabernet Sauvignon and tête de cuvée Champagne are also very collectible. When you buy wines from regions other than Burgundy and Bordeaux it is important to buy flagship wines –successful wineries that have made a name for their respective region. While flagship wines might not appeal to your sense of discovery, they are more likely to sell 10 years down the line.


A 10 Year Example Plan: Conclusions from a Wino

If I were to build a Wine Investment Portfolio, I would most likely specialize in a specific region and select a few producers that I know will continue to prosper. I would attempt to get on those wineries’ allocation lists and I’d also pay the winery a visit to taste their wines and get a feel for who they are. I’d pay close attention to vintage variation reports as the reports would help me decide to purchase either 1 or 2 case lots. I would not buy any less than a case. After 5 years, I would have about 22-24 cases of wine and 5 year verticals of notable producers. Then, I’d have to wait another 3-5 years to start selling.

wine notes

What Are Tannins In Wine

In wine, tannin is a textural element that makes wine taste dry.

Tannin is a naturally occurring polyphenol found in plants, seeds, bark, wood, leaves and fruit skins. About 50% of the dry weight of plant leaves are tannins. As a characteristic of wine, tannin adds both bitterness and astringency as well as complexity. Wine tannins are most commonly found in red wine, although white wines have tannin from being aged in wooden barrels.

What Does Tannin Taste Like?
Tannin tastes dry and astringent and you can feel it specifically on the middle of your tongue and the front part of your mouth. Unsweetened black tea is a great example of nearly pure tannin dissolved in water.

       High-Tannin Foods
Tea Leaves
Walnuts, Almonds and Nuts with Skins
Dark Chocolate
Cinnamon, Clove and other spices
Pomegranates, Grapes and Açaí Berries
Quince

Tannins in wine come from two possible places: wine grapes and wood.

Grape tannin comes from the skins, seeds and stems of a wine grape. For this reason, red wines tend to have higher tannins than white wines because the extended contact of the grapes to the juice gives the tannin time to dissolve in the alcohol and water in the wine.

Some types of wine have higher tannins than others. The Nebbiolo grape used in Italian Barolo, is a high grape tannin wine.

Wood tannins dissolve into wine through contact. Most commonly this happens when wine is stored in wooden barrels. Oak barrels are the most popular choice because of the flavors they add to wine such as vanillin.

Tannin powders, oak chips and oak staves are growing in popularity because they are more affordable. It is hard to say which is better since an oak barrel can be used in winemaking for up to 70 years.

High Tannin Wines

• Nebbiolo
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Tempranillo
• Montepulciano
• Petit Verdot
• Petite Sirah

Low Tannin Wines

• Barbera
• Zinfandel
• Pinot Noir
• Primitivo
• Grenache
• Merlot

There is actually a study on the effects of wine and tea tannin and oxidation in the body. In the tests, wine tannin resists oxidation whereas tea tannin did not. In other words, it may be super good for you

The jury is still out on the connection between tannin and migraines. In order to remove tannins from your diet you’ll need to stop consuming chocolate, nuts, apple juice, tea, pomegranate and, of course, wine.
Age-worthy Wines Tannin is a key component in what makes a wine age worthy.
= = =
Friends don't let friends Vacu-Vin   4.4.13 John Cesano Ukiah Daily Journalhttp://www.localwineevents.com/resources/articles/view/896

One of my wine industry jobs was with the Wine Appreciation Guild, one of the industry's largest publishers of wine books and a one-stop distributor of both wine books and accessories. My job was to sell wine books and wine accessories to winery tasting rooms, wine shops, and other specialty merchants in 42 California counties.
One item I refused to sell.Vacu-Vin. There is no wine preservation system more ubiquitous. Gwyneth Paltrow told Oprah that it is a "must-have" in her kitchen. Every frau and pretentious wine poser in the country has one. Sales of the devices number in the tens of millions.

The manufacturers say:"The Wine Saver is a vacuum pump, which extracts the air from the opened bottle and re-seals it with a re-usable rubber stopper. Place the re-usable stopper in the bottle and extract the air from the bottle using the Wine Saver pump.
A "click" sound tells you when you have reached the optimum vacuum level. The vacuum slows down the oxidation process which makes it possible to enjoy your wine again at a later date. The question "how often do I have to pump?" is a thing of the past. The unique and patented vacuum indicator will emit a "click" sound when the correct vacuum is reached."

The Wine Appreciation Guild carried them, and everyone I worked with wanted them to sell in their stores. I had a problem. To my mind, the Vacu-Vin doesn't work:
"The "Vacu-Vin" device as submitted was evaluated to determine efficacy in reduction of oxidative spoilage in opened wines. Using the protocol described above, the "Vacu-Vin" device was found to have no measurable effect in reduction of oxidative spoilage." -Gordon Burns, ETS Laboratories, 1204 Church Street, St. Helena, CA 94574"

Vacu-vin" doesn't work, It never has. Sensorily - to me anyway - the Vacu-vin was a shuck. You could track the deterioration in each sample. Indeed, just recorking the wine worked equally as well ­ or as badly.The (Wall Street) Journal asked Professor David Roe of the Portland State University chemistry department to test the gizmo.
At best he achieved a vacuum of somewhat less than 70 percent Š In just 90 minutes, he reported, the vacuum pressure diminished by 15 percent. I asked Professor Roe to repeat his test with a newly purchased (newer, improved', model) Vacu-Vin.
"The pump is more efficient, but no more effective," he reports. "The vacuum is the same, around 70 to 75 percent. And the leak rate is the same: After two hours you lose 25 percent of the vacuum. Overnight ­ 12 hours ­ the vacuum is totally gone." -Matt Kramer, "A Giant Sucking Sound And That's All"

There's no clear need for Vacu-Vin Vacuum Wine Saver and other wine-preservation systems, our tests suggest. A lot of people turn to wine-preservation systems that seek to retard or stop oxidation, the chemical process that degrades wine. If you're among those who swear by such systems, we have surprising news, based on our tests of four widely known brands: No system beat simply recorking the bottle and sticking it in the fridge." - Wine Spectator.
"Getting the air out - The Vacu-Vin Vacuum Wine Saver, $10, uses rubber stoppers (two are provided) with a pump that sucks out air.We tested three varietals with the systems on three different occasions for three different periods of time. For comparison, we also stoppered one bottle with its own cork. After all the bottles spent time in our wine cellar, expert wine consultants compared their contents in blind taste tests with freshly opened bottles. If our trained experts, with nearly 60 years in the business, couldn't discern among wine storage systems, most consumers probably can't, either. So just go ahead and cork it (you can turn the cork over if it's easier to get in). But try not to wait more than a week or so to drink the wine, and sooner is better." - Consumer Reports, December 2006

I would tell the buyers for the winery tasting rooms, the wine shops, and the kitchen stores that the Vacu-Vin doesn't work ­ but it didn't stop most of them, because you, the home customer, wanted to buy and use these things.When I see a wine bar using a Vacu-Vin, I won't drink any but the first glass from a bottle.
Here's the deal: when you open wine and let it breathe, you are letting tannins dissipate, alcohol flush burn off, and fruit come forward. You'll find that the hot, harsh, and closed Cabernet at opening becomes a smooth delicious beverage with blackberry and currant notes with a little time. Oxygen is wine's friend initially.

While I am prepping food for dinner, I usually open a bottle, or more than one bottle if cooking for friends, pour a little of each in a separate wine glass, so I can repeatedly swirl and sniff each. I am looking for the wine to open and become perfect. At that point, I recork the bottle so I can just open, pour, and seal all the way through the meal. I know the last glass will be as good as the first. If not perfect, every glass is pretty darn good.
If I opened the wine, let it breathe, and then ignored it, the fruit would follow the tannins, and perfect would become sad. Oxygen, so important to a wine at opening, becomes wine's enemy afterward. Leaving a wine open ruins wine over time. Pumping the air out of a bottle of wine with a Vacu-Vin strips the wine of some aroma and bouquet. Each time it is used it can harm the wine. To me, a couple of seconds is like hours of damage.

Kramer described the loss of delicate notes in his piece for spectator. The Vacu-Vin doesn't even create a complete vacuum. As tested, fully 25-30 percent of the air, and oxygen, remains inside the bottle ­ before the Vacu-Vin fails and all of the air, and oxygen returns.
To me, the worst think about the Vacu-Vin is that consumers are fooled into a false sense of preservation security and don't seek another, effective, method to save the aroma, bouquet, and flavors of a bottle of wine in between glasses.

At work, in the tasting room, I use 100 percent pure Argon, an inert gas that is heavier than oxygen, from a large tank. Shooting a little into a bottle, then recorking it, allows the Argon to settle and provide a protective blanket between wine and oxygen. Smaller home versions are available, with Private Preserve, a nitrogen/argon mix, the most easily found. More expensive, but also more efficacious, WineSave is 100 percent pure food grade Argon in a can available at WineSave.com

retailers

Beverages & More bevmo.com

the Goliath you love to hate


San Diego Wine Co.

Big Lots

Grocery Outlet National City/Chula Vista

Holiday Wine Cellar Escondido

Wine Bank


online ~ regional

HiTime Wine

K & L Wine

Wally's

Mission Liquor Pasadena

online ~ national

Binny's
http://www.binnys.com/blog/?cat=5

Spec's Liquor

Twin

Drink Up NY

Astor