Are drinking habits changing? Stuart Lancaster takes a look and how we can take care of those opened bottles
Traditionally, popping a cork has meant committing to finish the entire bottle – if not in one sitting, then over the course of a day or two at most. Over the last few years, global wine consumption habits have been changing slowly but surely. Whether it be for health reasons, or a choice to drink less but better, finishing a bottle is no longer expected or necessary. But what do we do with the rest of the bottle?
In restaurants and wine bars around the world, this is not a massive problem. With new diners at each service, a well crafted wine list will see open bottles finished within a day or two at most. On board, however, it can be a very different story.
Imagine the scenario; your Charter guest or the Yacht owner requests that you open an expensive bottle of wine. You open the bottle, pour a glass, and then your guest would not like another. The rest of the trip goes by and they continue drinking other wines, leaving the rest of this particular bottle untouched.
At the end of the trip you now have a bottle of wine that has been open for 4 days or more but the guests only consumed one glass… with the use of the right preservation system, the rest of this bottle can be taken home and enjoyed by the guests or kept on board, ready for your next owners trip.
The science behind wine preservation:
Once a bottle of wine is opened it is exposed to oxygen. As a wine is “oxidised”, chemical reactions take place which alter the aromas, flavour and the structure of the wine. While some wines may benefit from aeration, prolonged oxidation leads to dullness, browning, and inevitably, spoilage. Preservation systems aim to either remove oxygen and replace it with an inert gas, or prevent oxygen from entering the bottle altogether. Each approach offers different levels of effectiveness, cost, and complexity.
Available options:
The first and simplest option available is the tried and tested vacuum pump. Air is pumped out of the opened bottle, usually with a hand pump. While this reduces the amount of air in the bottle, these systems will never remove it all – this system is suited to short term preservation only.
The most widely used system onboard Yachts currently is the Coravin system. A needle is pushed through the cork and used to extract as much or little wine as desired. The system then replaces this wine with an inert gas – usually argon, nitrogen or a mixture of both. When the needle is removed, the cork naturally recloses and the bottle remains effectively “unopened”.
This system is surprisingly affordable but does require the ongoing purchase of additional gas capsules. It can extend the life expectancy of a bottle of wine for weeks, even months.
This system is great if you are looking to serve more expensive or rarer wines by the glass. It is also useful for Private Yachts as bottles of wine can be preserved for long periods between “boss trips”.
The final option, albeit more expensive, is to install a system like an Enomatic machine. These systems function in a similar way to the Coravin; wine is extracted and replaced with an inert gas which does not react with the wine.
The difference with these systems is that multiple bottles can be opened and inserted into the machine at the same time. Automation then allows Crew members to instantly serve pre-set measures of wine at the push of a button.
In short, whatever your budget, it is worth investing in a wine preservation system and stepping up your wine preservation game for 2026!
Stuart Lancaster – Wine Advisor, Vins Sans Frontières
www.vsfgroup.com
