So for the most part when I do reviews on this site it’s of wine, and they’re bottles that I’ve either purchased myself or that somebody has sent to me because they were interested in my opinion. On occasion I’ve had the opportunity to check out not the wine itself, but some wine-related products. This is one of those occasions.
Several weeks ago, shortly after the 2011 North American Wine Bloggers Conference, I was approached about checking out the Wine Shield. The premise is that after pouring out a glass of wine, you place one of these down into the bottle and it floats on top of the remaining wine, acting like a barrier to keep out dirt, dust, and, most importantly, to preserve the wine without the need to have fancy or expensive wine preservation apparati.
I’ve tried these out on a few bottles of wine now and felt it was finally fair to share my thoughts on the product.
The first time I tried them out was a few weeks ago when my wife was out of town. I opened a bottle, and wanting to be able to tell her I was responsible and didn’t drink the entire thing by myself in one sitting, I pulled out one of the Wine Shields and proceeded to insert it into the bottle after pouring myself a glass.
The fist time you try this, you will have difficulty, and while I eventually got it down in the bottle, it wasn’t the best it could have been. That being said, the following day when I finished the wine I am pleased to report that wine was just as good as the evening before, even with me doing a barely passable job of getting the Wine Shield in the bottle.
The second time I tried this was last night with a bottle of wine, and I can say that I got the Wine Shield in much better this time, so clearly the learning curve on these things is short, and I think if I used one every night I would soon be a deft pro at it.
While the wine didn’t last all night, I put one in as my wife was going to be late and I didn’t know how long the bottle would have to be opened for, including to the next day. The bottle didn’t last, but I was more pleased with how quickly I was able to pick up inserting the Wine Shield.
So the big question is would I recommend the Wine Shield?
For me personally no. My reason for that is that bottles of wine at my house rarely last more than a night, so I have small use for preservation systems at my home. That being said. When I did use it to preserve a bottle it worked admirably, and this is definitely something I would have been interested in when I was bartending.
If you work in a restaurant or you don’t finish bottles of wine in a single night then I do actually recommend the Wine Shield. After a couple of tries it’s easy enough to get into the bottle, and the fact that it’s disposable is an added bonus, especially if you plan to take it on something like a picnic or camping trip so you don’t have to worry about forgetting a piece at home.
There are a lot of products out there that claim to preserve your wine, but I can say that this one does deliver, so you can buy with confidence if that’s what you’re looking for.
