Oxygen is both enemy and friend to wine. A freshly-opened wine needs a certain amount of oxygen to "breathe" to release its underlying aromas and flavors, rounding out the palate. However, when the wine is decanted, the effect of oxygen becomes very subtle and can "damage" the wine's mouthfeel and remove its flavor. This is because wine contains phenolic substances and anthocyanins that are extremely sensitive to the action of oxygen. Under the action of oxygen, the pigment substances in the wine will gradually decrease, and the aroma and flavor will gradually dissipate. In addition, wine will produce acetic acid bacteria under the action of oxygen, and act on alcohol to produce a large amount of sharp acetic acid.

how to save

There are many ways to preserve wine after opening, but the basic principle is to isolate or reduce the contact between wine and oxygen. The easiest way to do this is to re-plug the bottle and store the wine upright in the refrigerator. The second method is the bottle replacement method, that is, the remaining wine is changed to a smaller clean glass bottle for storage, sealed and placed in the refrigerator. The third method is to remove the oxygen in the bottle, and then seal the bottle to form a vacuum in the bottle, but it should be noted that this method is not suitable for storing sparkling wine. Another way is to insert an inert gas, such as nitrogen, to form a protective layer between the wine and the oxygen. Of course, with the development of science and technology, there are more and more simpler equipment to help the wine to be stored scientifically after being opened, so as to isolate the influence of oxygen, such as the Coravin bottle opener, which uses a special The bottle opening method can effectively prevent oxygen from entering the bottle