sf wrote on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:35:44 -0700:

>> "James Silverton" > wrote in
>> message ...
>>> Hello All!
>>>
>>> The recent threads on cooking with wine and using Vermouth
>>> prompted me to post this from Joe Yonan in today's
>>> Washington Post.
>>>
>>> Ask 10 cooks what they do with leftover wine and, trust me,
>>> at least half will respond, "What's leftover wine?" --
>>>
>>> James Silverton
>>> Potomac, Maryland
>>>
>>> Email, with obvious alterations:
>>> not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not
>> If it's a fine wine you served with dinner cover it with a
>> nitrogen blanket and recork it. If properly done, it will
>> last for months. I usually refrigerate recorked wine, though
>> it's not absolutely necessary. Vermouth, or any fortified
>> wine like Port, or Sherry, will hold its own if it's just
>> recorked for quite a long time. I guess the "today" wines,
>> red and white, we all know what to do with.
>>
>> Ed
>>
> I can't say nitrogen protects wine for months, but it can
> extend wine for a few (very few compared to a month) days. As
> far as decent "today" wines... they are made to drink TODAY
> (whatta concept), not in five to twenty years. So if you or
> anyone else has a problem with that, you're the one with the
> *problem*.

I kind of doubt that a small injection of nitrogen would do even as much
as a vacuum pump. Given that nitrogen is slightly less dense than air,
you'd probably have to bubble nitrogen thro' your wine for quite a time
to have much effect. Now argon, being quite a bit denser, might work but
it's got to be more costly. Carbon dioxide would perhaps work too but
I'd think you would be able to taste it, unlike nitrogen and argon.

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not