Wine Shield - Keeps Wine Fresh to the Last Glass

What do you do when you open a good bottle of red and just cannot finish it? You want to preserve it of course, and now there is a new, inexpensive way to do it. The kind people at wine Shield recently sent me a sample and I, being a single drinker, wanted to give it a try.

The wine shield is an actual food-grade plastic disc that you insert in the bottle that covers the surface of the wine. They claim it will reduce oxidation for up to 5days and it can be used on red, white and rose wines. Here are the results of my experiment:

I decided to use a bottle of rich, full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon for my little experiment.

Villa Hermosa 2007 Napa Valley Cab Sauvingon
Day 1
dark purple alsmost opaque with a clear rim
nose: kinda funky with hay,anise, blueberry and other dark fruits
palate: tannins are strong, long linger of blueberry and cassis, rich and concentrated (great wine for $15)
Day 3
everything was the same. Not suprising as most wines can stand up 3 days with just a cork and refrigeration.

Day 5
On Day 5 I opened the same bottle of wine to contrast it with the wine that had been open.
wow, the two bottles are almost the same. Just as fresh (more of an herbal note than before), tannins about the same and similar richness on the palate.

**I would recommend the Wine Shield as an inexpensive way to make that open bottle last longer. Seems like an ideal alternative for a wine bar where they sell wines by the glass.**

Visit their website www.wineshield.com to learn how to purchase them and watch the video here to see how easy they are to use:

Le Domaine Saget Pouilly-Fume 2008

Today we are quaffing a Pouilly Fume. That means we are drinking a Sauvingon Blanc from the Loire Valley. Here are our impressions:

-Lovely acidity, hints of young coconut, clover blossom and grass on the nose, medium citrine hue, clean, crisp, citrusy finish. This calls for a young, tangy goat cheese, chicken Piccata, seafood with lemon sauce. Fried artichoke hearts with a lemon caper aioli. Find it at Whole Foods Market.

Another sparkling wine and food pairing: Cremant de Bourgogne with Lox

I think sparkling wines may be the most food friendly wines due to their high acidity and bubbly texture. I love salty foods with sparkling wines like potato chips or truffled popcorn. I espececially love to pair sushi with sparkling wine so in keeping up with this theme I came up with a simple yet delicious sparkling wine/ appetizer pairing: Cremant de Bourgogne with Lox.

I chose this pairing as a part of the Drink Wine with Dinner event created by Rosina Wilson. She has come up with an easy-to-use guide to wine and food pairing. Please see this post for the guide: (http://www.brixchicks.com/2011/08/drink-wine-with-dinner-dw2d2.html) For my pairing I used Principle #3:

3) Contrast ~ where food & wine have *different* characteristics that you know will work well together (like harmony in music): Acidic wine (e.g. sparkling wine or Sauvignon Blanc) with butter/cream in food; sweet/fruity wine (e.g. Riesling, Grenache, Zin) with spicy food (e.g. curry, BBQ)...

I found a lovely Cremant de Bourgogne (made from 100% Pinot Noir) from Trader Joe’s made by Blason. This bubbly shows tight bubbles that lasted quite a while with a bracing acidity and notes of apricot pastry and lemon. It paired perfectly with the smokey, buttery slices of lox topped with tangy creme fraiche and lemony chopped chives. It was defintely harmonious in my mouth as the silky notes of the salmon and creme fraiche mingled with the bubbles and acidity of the wine and the lemon I spritzed on the lox. This is one of the simplest appetizers ever and economical. All you need is the lox, bread, creme fraiche and chives. The wine is only $10.99 and Trader Joe's has a small package of delicious lox for only $3.99. A classy appetizer/sparkling wine pairing perfect for us "Recessionistas."