Here's How To Recork Your Wine Bottles

Finding the perfect bottle of wine is no easy task and sometimes, neither is finishing it off in just one sitting. If you're looking to keep your wine just as fresh as when you opened it the next time that you'll be pouring it, it's key to learn how to properly recork your wine bottles. While there are several methods to do this efficiently, there's one tool that is worth the splurge. A wine saver is the best solution for making sure that you're going to enjoy your wine when you open it back up, even days later.

A wine saver is a type of vacuum sealer, keeping your wine fresh longer than any other method by protecting wine from outside air. They remove the oxygen from the bottle and create an airtight and leak-proof seal so your wine stays fresh. A basic model, like the Vacu Vin wine saver pump, can generally be found for under $20 and is well worth your investment, especially if you're not part of a household that can easily polish off a bottle in one day. While not even the best vacuum sealer will preserve your wine indefinitely, they can buy you a bit more time.

The moment that you uncork a bottle, wine begins the oxidation process. This is a chemical reaction where oxygen in the air interacts with the wine which can change its flavor, color, and smell. This causes the wine to taste and smell off, creating grassy, nutty or even vinegary odors and giving white and red wine a brown tint. What's worse, the wine will both look and taste flat — the last thing that you want to experience when you've splurged on a quality bottle.

While there are less expensive methods of recorking your bottle, a wine saver is the best way to effectively keep this oxidation process at bay. By removing the oxygen from the bottle via the vacuum pump, you're able to slow down the oxidation process from impacting an already opened bottle. If you're an oenophile who is really trying to build up your at home bar arsenal, you can take this to the next step by treating yourself to a wine preservation system like the Coravin Timeless Six Plus. These have the same general concept as the wine saver with an added layer of protection — rather than just removing the oxygen from an opened bottle, they fill the bottle with an inert gas, such as argon.