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11 of 12 found the following review helpful:
 Costs less than an average bottle of wine Dec 27, 2007
By Lynn Hoffman, author:The Short Course in Beer
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.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
New pump is compatible with old style 3-rib stoppers Jan 05, 2012
By Michael
I've been using this product for a quarter century or more. It's always worked well for me, and i can keep a bottle of red wine (at room temperature) for a week, sometimes two, with it.
Recently i had an opportunity to compare what the wine would taste like without using this product because, unbeknownst to me, my pump stopped working. The next day, i noticed a strikingly unpleasant shift in the taste of my bottle of wine. I blamed it on a bad stopper, so rotated it out. Another bottle of wine, same thing. After figuring out it was the pump, not the stoppers, which had failed, i bought a new pump. My next-day bottle of wine started tasting nearly as good as a freshly uncorked bottle. It was a striking difference. So i can reaffirm that this product does indeed work very well.
Some people seem to have less luck with it than i do. Every wine is of course different. But i suspect the biggest difference may be in how people use it. Firstly, i never rebottle decanted wine. Secondly, i pour the wine immediately upon decorking, and recork and vacuum the air out *immediately*. Thirdly, i pump enough to ensure that all the air is out, not just some. If the bottle is nearly empty, or i'm working with a 1.5L bottle, i have to do a lot more pumping (as there's more air in the bottle which needs to be removed).
I suspect those who report poor performance are either rebottling decanted wine, let their bottles sit open for a while, or aren't pumping out all the air they should.
It should be noted that this product won't work with sparkling wines like champagne. Such wines off-gas carbon dioxide, which will break the vacuum and vent out through the stopper's valve (which is designed to prevent airflow in the opposite direction).
There are those who suggest refrigerating red wine once opened. I've never found the need to do that, when using this product as i've described above.
I've just recently purchased a new pump (with the new style, single-rib stopper). The new pump works well with my old style three-rib stoppers. In fact, the pump design is improved over my older pump: it gives an audible click when the air has been evacuated from the bottle (no more pumping beyond what's necessary "just to be sure.")
Many reviews i've seen elsewhere say the old style stoppers work better than the new ones. I haven't yet used the new style stopper, so can't comment on that. As long as they hold the seal, they should be as good. Most of my old style stoppers are about 25 years old, and are still working great, so will probably continue to use them as long as i have them. Three ribs seem better than one, and i like how they work. If it ain't broke, don't change it!
Just works May 15, 2012
By Marco Antonio Hernandez
Tried a couple other brands and types of suction caps and none of them as good as this one. Second set I buy. Highly recommended.
 Wine Bottle Vacuum May 05, 2012
By Loonytune
All Good. Works well and I now can get a couple of extra days out of a bottle of wine before it goes bad.
Easiest, Simplest Wine Vacuum Apr 09, 2012
By Thomas P. Krafft
"thomaskrafft"
I was concerned that the quality might be sacrificed for such a low price, but I was pleasantly surprised. This one is an additional vacuum for me and I'm happy to say that the twenty years between purchases shows no lowering in quality. The 'cork' is a different design but backward compatible so I don't need to keep straight which corks go with which vacuum. With just a few pulls--and it's obvious when when to quit--the wine is made safe from oxygen. I highly recommend this as a useful gadget that should be in every wine enthusiast's kitchen.
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