Customer Reviews

Vacu Vin Wine Saver Extra Stoppers, Set of 2

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The main goal in keeping wine "leftovers" is to prevent the wine from aging between the time you open the bottle and when you finish the remaining wine. Air destroys wine, so you need to minimize the air contacat. You also have to keep the wine in the fridge during this time, because 55F is a 'normal aging temperature' and since the air is already aging the wine, you want to minimize *any* other degrading that might go on. Any temperature over 55F will simply make things worse.

The vacu-vin attempts to help by sucking the air out of a half-empty bottle of wine. Note that, instead of the few pumps their literature suggests, you need about 15 pumps to get most of the air out. For many wine types the fact that you are in essence lowering the pressure in the bottle pulls the 'liveliness' out of the wine, which ruins it.

I have done a series of tests for my website comparing both a red and white after 3 days, being stored under a variety of circumstances. The vacu-vin "works" in the sense that it does remove most of the air. However, it was also found to greatly harm some wines - even when you compare its use against a simple cork.

The *ideal* method of saving wine is cheap. Simply put the wine into a smaller glass bottle, cork it, and put it in the fridge. That has the best chance to keep the most common wines for another few days in the best condition. No air at all, no vacuum either. Of course, *no* method will really keep a wine in the same state it started in. You can always cook with the wine on the second day, and move along to your next bottle!

Life is too short to drink bad or old wine :)

If you have a VacuVin, you undoubtedly know the beauty of not having to finish a bottle of wine in one sitting. Having once experienced this freedom, why not enjoy more?

The VacuVin comes with two stoppers, but two quicky become insufficient. It is easy to suddenly have several partially full bottles - a red and a white; but then a friend comes over and you want to share a special bottle. A couple dollars eliminates this constrait.

Another reason to get more stoppers, is that they seem to loose their effectiveness over time - not keeping their vacuum seal very long. I am sometimes disappointed when I take out a "Vacced" bottle, squeeze the stopper, and don't hear the rush of air going into the bottle that indicated the seal held. Possibly the rubber hardens over time. One way to get more longevity out of the stoppers is to slightly wet them before using - the moisture seems to help the rubber get a good seal.

4 stars only because the stoppers should last longer.

Great rubber stoppers that actually last for a very, very long time, and, of course, work with the Wine Saver pump. I'm still using my original ones from 8 years ago!

These wine stoppers keep my wine fresh. I use them to keep White wine in my fridge fresh for cooking and drinking. The stoppers work with older style vacu-pumps from the same company.

I cannot remember where or when (ages ago) I got my stopper and pump set but I have been searching for more stoppers for a few years. You always need a few extras at holiday time, rainy Mondays and sunny Saturdays. Great stuff!

These are the first stoppers that I have ever found that are easy to insert and remove and not leak!

The Vacu Vin Wine Saver Stoppers were exactly what I expected when I ordered them. They work great with my old Vacu Vin Wine Saver. I would recommend the product to anyone.

These new model stoppers seem to allow more air to be pumped out of a bottle.


Looking at the reviews of this an other Vacuvin products, you see reports that are deeply contradictory. It's interesting that there is such a divergence of experience with such a simple product. The ideas behind Vacuvin are pretty simple.
First, air is the enemy of an open bottle of wine. Bacteria in the air want to turn alcohol into vinegar. The air itself oxidizes and dulls the taste of all but the most robust wines.
Second, you can remove some of the air with a simple pump and thereby slow down the rate at which wine deteriorates.

Why then, do we have both no-star and five-star reactions to this product?
Maybe the biggest source of disagreement is expectations. Vacuvin slows the deterioration of wine in the bottle, but it doesn't stop it.

Another possible reason for all the disagreement might be a question of temperature. The biochemical reactions that kill your wine are temperature sensitive. They proceed faster when the wine is warm and slow down when it's cool. Putting a pumped-out bottle in the refrigerator or wine cooler will slow down the spoilage processes and make Vacuvin more effective.
A third issue is the way the wine is handled before the Vacuvin plug goes in. If wine has a lot of air dissolved in it by being poured from decanter to bottle, there's no system that will keep it fresh.

For more info on wine storage, check out my book, New Short Course in Wine,The

--Lynn Hoffman, author of New Short Course in Wine,The and bang BANG: A Novel from Kunati Books.

These savers are very efective as vacuum stopers to help preserve opened botles of wine.

I bought 2 sets of the extra Vacu Vin stoppers and left feedback as requested; apparently being Neutral was not sufficient and the marketer was told by his "boss" that if I would revise my review he was authorised to let me have free stoppers. I thought it is no big deal, the people need business and I was not going to be out of pocket, so I revised my feedback accordingly. To this day there has not been a thank you, never mind either a refund or any kind of gift. Beware the slick marketers.