On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:40:08 GMT, Zane >
wrote:
>On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:06:51 GMT, Ed Rasimus
> wrote:
>
> (snip)
>
>>Options I use:
>>1.) Drink the wine.
>>2.) Have a friend help
>>3.) Linger later to finish the wine
>>4.) Leave the unfinished (if there is any) in the bottle and try it
>>tomorrow--I notice that Dale W says he does this a lot!
>
>This subject has probably been beaten to death, but for some of us
>those options aren't exactly satisfying.
I realize that, and my post was with tongue planted somewhat firmly in
my chubby cheek.
>
>I like to drink a single glass of wine with dinner virtually every
>evening, and my wife does not. I also don't eat the same thing every
>night and therefore don't necessarily like the same kind of wine every
>night. I'm probably not that unusual in these habits.
Enjoying a glass of wine with dinner is a high point of any day.
You're unusual in that you are successfully in limiting the intake.
>
>So the ideal situation for me would be to have about 4 bottles of wine
>open at the same time, meaning that each bottle would have to stay
>drinkable for more than two weeks if you didn't want to throw it out.
>(Again, ideally.) Just leaving it in the bottle for a few days turns
>good wine into undrinkable stuff, as far as I'm concerned. Paying 15
>or 20 USD per glass maybe five times a week seems wasteful even if one
>is rich.
Your scenario is an extreme. I'll concede that a single wine
repeatedly for four days in a row would be boring at best. And,
certainly one wine does not easily accompany the menu for four
straight days. Yet an argument can be made that sampling the same wine
over a period of two or three days (at the longest) might illuminate
some nuances and demonstrate some development in the wine that might
otherwise be missed.
>So, looking for a way to make a bottle stay reasonably the same as
>when opened for a day or seven or more is probably as important for
>me, and people like me, as the initial quality of the everyday wine
>itself. Otherwise, one has to limit oneself to box wine.
>
>Zane
Box wine is not the limitation it once was, but I get your point.
Probably my issue is that, first, most wines don't really deteriorate
badly in 24 hours or so--admittedly old wines can erode very quickly
some times, but most wines of the sort that we would explore with
meals on a daily basis are not so fragile. IOW, over a day or two you
usually won't need extreme life-support measures.
Second, is that over the years and having enthusiastically involved
myself in a wide range of extra-curricular interests I've noticed a
pattern in which a wide range of complex, arcane, pseudo-sophisticated
and usually pricey products are developed to cater to the demands of
the aficianado. Whether it is a laser rangefinder for distance to the
pin on a golf course or a wrist altimeter to measure how high on the
mountain you are as a skier or a pearly handled Laguiole left-handed
corkscrew or a split-bamboo, hand-wrapped ferrule Orvis fly-rod or a
rare inert gas low pressure Teflon-sealed wine bottle injection system
for preserving left-over wine it generally costs too much, gets soon
abandoned and doesn't really meet a need in the long term.
But it is fun to debate the issue.
Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com