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See why.Wine Savers
We tested six tools on half-empty bottles of red and white wine, comparing and evaluating the wines’ flavors and drinkability at various time intervals.
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What You Need To Know
For years we’ve preserved open bottles of wine either by using the Vacu Vin Wine Saver, an inexpensive ($9.29) pair of rubber stoppers with a pump that sucks the air out of the bottle, or by pouring leftover wine into a smaller bottle or Mason jar to stave off oxidation. But innovative new gadgets promise to keep wine drinkable longer. We tested six tools, including the Vacu Vin, on half-empty bottles of red and white wine, comparing and evaluating the wines’ flavors and drinkability at various time intervals.
Three models were either ineffective or fussy or both. Our old favorite worked reliably and kept wine drinkable for a week, but two new models bested it. As of press time, these two models had kept wine drinkable for one month. (We’ll continue to taste and report, so check our website for updates.) By inserting one model's sharp, hollow needle through the cork—we never had to uncork the bottle—we could pour just the amount of wine that we wanted while activating a pressurized capsule that simultaneously fed argon (an inert gas) into the bottle to displace the tapped wine. Not even our trained wine expert could say which was fresher: a month-old bottle sealed by this product or a freshly opened bottle of the same vintage. Another, cheaper product is a worthy Best Buy: It forms a barricade against air when its balloon is lowered into the bottle and inflated just above the surface of the leftover wine. On the downside, it’s slightly finicky and can be used on only one bottle at a time.
Everything We Tested
Recalled (formerly Highly Recommended)
- Ease of Use: 3 stars out of 3.
- Effectiveness: 3 stars out of 3.
This high-tech gadget fetches a sky-high price, but the results were indisputable: Tasters found the wines we poured from it, which had been open for a month, just as good as wine from freshly opened bottles (and we are continuing to test). Our quibbles: The model is pricey, it doesn’t work with screw-top wines and results are less impressive with synthetic corks, and each argon capsule lasts for only about five bottles’ worth of wine (replacement capsules cost about $11 each).
Recommended
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Effectiveness: 3 stars out of 3.
Once you get the hang of lowering the food-safe latex balloon into the bottle and inflating it just above the leftover wine’s surface, this budget-friendly device effectively seals off air, preserving wine’s drinkability for at least one month (we are continuing to test). A downside: You can seal only one bottle at a time. Balloons are guaranteed for 80 uses; replacement balloons cost about $4.
Recommended with reservations
- Ease of Use: 3 stars out of 3.
- Effectiveness: 2 stars out of 3.
After discovering new, more effective products that raised the bar for wine preservation, we developed some reservations about recommending our former favorite tool. We still value it for its compact design, ease of use, and budget-friendly price, but since it keeps wine drinkable for only about a week, we’ll use it just for short-term storage.
Not Recommended
- Ease of Use: 2 stars out of 3.
- Effectiveness: 1 stars out of 3.
This separate carafe features a hollow plastic insert that floats on top of the wine, supposedly protecting its surface from air exposure, as well as a glass-and-plastic stopper to keep the vessel sealed. But it simply wasn’t effective: After one week, tasters found that both white and red wines stored in the Savino lost too much of their character and flavor.
- Ease of Use: 1.5 stars out of 3.
- Effectiveness: 1 stars out of 3.
Spraying the surface of the leftover wine with a mixture of inert gases (argon, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide) chases out the air—if done properly. On our first attempt, the straw inside the canister flew off the sprayer head and into the wine. But even when we successfully sprayed and then sealed the bottles with the original corks and (for extra protection) plastic wrap, the results were unimpressive: After one week, tasters found both the red and white wines unsatisfactory.
- Ease of Use: 1 stars out of 3.
- Effectiveness: 1 stars out of 3.
This vacuum-sealing hand pump and stopper supposedly lets the user see how much pressure is applied via the built-in gauge, but we pumped and pumped without any movement from the gauge needle until we figured out the trick: You have to pull up on a small knob on top of the sealer to start (the directions don’t say this). It didn’t matter much, though. Even when we did get the gauge to register, the stopper often lost suction overnight, requiring resealing, and taste tests confirmed that the wine had gone downhill after two days.
Reviews you can trust
Reviews you can trust
The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing. We stand behind our winners so much that we even put our seal of approval on them.
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