Innovative (?) Thought About Aging

Hi, everyone.

I was sitting around and thinking about bottling my latest mead. Though that was my original thought, the bigger idea I've got is applicable to all wine.

I'm no chemist, but I understand, at least, the means by which a wine oxidizes. It dawned on me, just now; has nobody ever tried to bottle wine in vacuum sealed conditions, or even age/store the wine in a chamber with such a vacuum seal?

I figure that this is a painfully obvious idea for lengthy storage of a beverage. If this was done with a cork, and done leaving virtually no headspace, it could prevent the bottle from collapsing on itself, and logically should prevent conventional oxidation.

I know my ideas are put forth rather sloppily, but does anyone have a thought on this idea, like why it might never work, or if i'm simply rambling about a process already in existence?

 

Box wine is vacuum sealed. I am not sure if it is feasible in a traditional cork and bottle scenario. If you can make it work then you might be onto something.

 

In a cork and bottle, I worry that it is slightly more fragile and would require extensive efforts to ensure that the bottles didn't collapse under the weight of the atmosphere. However, I feel that it would be certainly easy in a non-reactive metal container, but this, again, is a bit of an extreme length to go for each bottle of wine.

Arguably, certain years by certain vineyards would be worth the effort.

 

Micro oxygenation is required for ageing of wine. The oxygen comes through the wood if in a barrel or through the cork if in a bottle.

 

True, so here we see a difference, perhaps, between aging wine and preserving it, long-term.

 

I thought about putting bottles of beer (barley wine) that I wanted to age long term in vacuum sealed bags to limit oxygen exposure. I understand the bags are oxygen permeable, but as long as they maintain a seal the amount of oxygen they let in should be minimal. I figure oxygen scrubbing caps plus a good wax seal plus vacuum sealed bags plus constant temp should really limit any damaging factors effecting my beer.

 

Good Lord, kids!!!
You could bottle on the Int'l Space Station, but, if you got a cyl. of CO2, you could flush the bottles, the carboy, the whole shebang. You could even put Dry Ice in a bag and use the vapors.

 

So, if I'm getting this right, I should just top off the bottles with CO2 and not bother with a vacuum?

I mean, that sounds fair, but as an amateur mycologist, I actually could make a lot of use in my studies to have a vacuum glove-box chamber nearby.

Nonetheless, could you elaborate on how to do this to preserve a wine over time?

 

Does anyone ever just make it bottle it drink some give some away save some and make more? Not sure if it would work but sounds logical to me.

 

Is that not how we all do it, vaguely? I'm not sure what you're implying.

 

I thnk that they are asking if they have to age it, and the answer is no. If you like the taste as it is, you can bottle it up and drink it right away. Most wines, however, benefit from some aging, especially if they have a high ABV or have "hot" alcohol flavors. Also, red wines generally need the aging time.

EDIT: stupid iPhone virtual keyboard...