Repour - TiggerK Experiment #1 - Results are in...
Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 11:07 am
Hi everyone,
Last night saw the conclusion to my first experiment with the Repour stopper, and the results were very interesting. I have no personal or commercial ties to the product, just wanted to report my findings in the hope it may be of interest to others.
The wine in question was a Punt Road Emperor’s Prize Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2016, under screwcap. Around the $20AU mark, I believe the wine is a decent example of an everyday modern Australian chardonnay which I think punches a little bit above its price point.
Three bottles, same wine, purchased at same time from the same retailer.
Bottle A was opened on 25th April around 4pm, half the contents poured out, immediately tightly resealed with its original screwcap, and put into the fridge at around 4C.
Bottle B was opened on 25th April around 4pm, half the contents poured out, immediately tightly resealed with a new Repour stopper, and put into the fridge at around 4C.
Bottle C was not opened, and was put into the fridge at around 4C at the same time. Then an hour before leaving the house last night, this bottle was opened, poured into a decanter for a brief 10 minute decant, poured back into the bottle, screwcap back on, back into the fridge until I took the three bottles to dinner, 9 days after the first two were originally opened.
I ensured the wines were carefully masked and presented blind, both to myself and my three dinner companions, all experienced tasters with palates I respect. Of course I knew what they were, but not what order they were served in, my dinner companions just knew I was presenting three blind white wines, nothing else. Let’s now call the three blind, mixed up wines, 1, 2 and 3.
Number 3 immediately stood out as the most vibrant and high quality on the nose and palate. There were murmurs of approval.
Number 1 was quite good, yet not as vibrant, lifted or exciting as Number 3, and on the palate was a touch dull in comparison to 3 as well. But still a fairly good wine.
Number 2 was a bit tired and lacking energy, acid line and drive. Not terrible, just paled in comparison to the others.
After this initial round of tasting and discussion, I announced that all wines were the same, and what the test was all about.
Everyone soon agreed that the favourite (Wine 3) was probably the freshly opened wine, Wine 1 was likely the 9 day old Repour and Wine 2 the 9 day old Screwcap sealed wine.
Wrong. We unveiled and found that the favourite wine was the Repour stoppered one!
I am now convinced the Repour device works very well at keeping a half full bottle of wine very fresh and vibrant for over a week in the fridge. There were zero signs of any oxidation at all, the wine showed extremely well, both on the nose and palate. Wine 2 was not showing much in the way of oxidation either, which did surprise me a little, nonetheless Wine 2 was fairly lifeless. Also, I suspect the newly opened wine (1) may have shown better with a few more hours of air, but the difference between the Repour stoppered wine and the screwcap stoppered wine after 9 days was dramatic. In theory the bottle should last much longer than 9 days while retaining excellent aromas and freshness, a month or more would not surprise me based on this result.
Prior to this experiment, I’ve been using a single Repour across a couple of bottles for a couple of weeks, taking a good glass sized pour from the bottle each night or two until the bottle is finished, then transferring the same Repour stopper to a different bottle and repeating over 3 or 4 glasses. In this case a (different) Australian Chardonnay and a young Village Red Burgundy. Both bottles showed no signs of deterioration across a week or so and drank as well on day 6 or 7 as they did on day 1 or 2. Not sure exactly how long the oxygen absorbing properties of the Repour would last when used like this, but I certainly got 8 or so ‘open and restopper’ events across two bottles across 2 weeks out of a single RePour. (Of course they recommend disposing after a single bottle, to ensure each bottle is correctly preserved. Hmm....)
Here in Australia, the price ranges from around $2.40 to $4 per Repour stopper, depending on how many you buy, shipping etc. For leftovers after tasting events, and for spreading a bottle or two across a week or three, this device is perfect for me. I’ve just ordered a bunch more!
Cheers
Tim
Last night saw the conclusion to my first experiment with the Repour stopper, and the results were very interesting. I have no personal or commercial ties to the product, just wanted to report my findings in the hope it may be of interest to others.
The wine in question was a Punt Road Emperor’s Prize Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2016, under screwcap. Around the $20AU mark, I believe the wine is a decent example of an everyday modern Australian chardonnay which I think punches a little bit above its price point.
Three bottles, same wine, purchased at same time from the same retailer.
Bottle A was opened on 25th April around 4pm, half the contents poured out, immediately tightly resealed with its original screwcap, and put into the fridge at around 4C.
Bottle B was opened on 25th April around 4pm, half the contents poured out, immediately tightly resealed with a new Repour stopper, and put into the fridge at around 4C.
Bottle C was not opened, and was put into the fridge at around 4C at the same time. Then an hour before leaving the house last night, this bottle was opened, poured into a decanter for a brief 10 minute decant, poured back into the bottle, screwcap back on, back into the fridge until I took the three bottles to dinner, 9 days after the first two were originally opened.
I ensured the wines were carefully masked and presented blind, both to myself and my three dinner companions, all experienced tasters with palates I respect. Of course I knew what they were, but not what order they were served in, my dinner companions just knew I was presenting three blind white wines, nothing else. Let’s now call the three blind, mixed up wines, 1, 2 and 3.
Number 3 immediately stood out as the most vibrant and high quality on the nose and palate. There were murmurs of approval.
Number 1 was quite good, yet not as vibrant, lifted or exciting as Number 3, and on the palate was a touch dull in comparison to 3 as well. But still a fairly good wine.
Number 2 was a bit tired and lacking energy, acid line and drive. Not terrible, just paled in comparison to the others.
After this initial round of tasting and discussion, I announced that all wines were the same, and what the test was all about.
Everyone soon agreed that the favourite (Wine 3) was probably the freshly opened wine, Wine 1 was likely the 9 day old Repour and Wine 2 the 9 day old Screwcap sealed wine.
Wrong. We unveiled and found that the favourite wine was the Repour stoppered one!
I am now convinced the Repour device works very well at keeping a half full bottle of wine very fresh and vibrant for over a week in the fridge. There were zero signs of any oxidation at all, the wine showed extremely well, both on the nose and palate. Wine 2 was not showing much in the way of oxidation either, which did surprise me a little, nonetheless Wine 2 was fairly lifeless. Also, I suspect the newly opened wine (1) may have shown better with a few more hours of air, but the difference between the Repour stoppered wine and the screwcap stoppered wine after 9 days was dramatic. In theory the bottle should last much longer than 9 days while retaining excellent aromas and freshness, a month or more would not surprise me based on this result.
Prior to this experiment, I’ve been using a single Repour across a couple of bottles for a couple of weeks, taking a good glass sized pour from the bottle each night or two until the bottle is finished, then transferring the same Repour stopper to a different bottle and repeating over 3 or 4 glasses. In this case a (different) Australian Chardonnay and a young Village Red Burgundy. Both bottles showed no signs of deterioration across a week or so and drank as well on day 6 or 7 as they did on day 1 or 2. Not sure exactly how long the oxygen absorbing properties of the Repour would last when used like this, but I certainly got 8 or so ‘open and restopper’ events across two bottles across 2 weeks out of a single RePour. (Of course they recommend disposing after a single bottle, to ensure each bottle is correctly preserved. Hmm....)
Here in Australia, the price ranges from around $2.40 to $4 per Repour stopper, depending on how many you buy, shipping etc. For leftovers after tasting events, and for spreading a bottle or two across a week or three, this device is perfect for me. I’ve just ordered a bunch more!
Cheers
Tim
one of my brothers did that to a bottle of white zambucca. a year later, party happening, late at night "lets do shots!"... "hmm... this is the weakest zambucca ever!".
