Unless you're throwing a dinner party or are in the mood to down a bottle of wine, some leftover grape is pretty common after a nice meal. If you don't drink it within a few days, however, you risk the wine going bad from exposure to air in the bottle. Taking the air out of the bottle can prolong the life of your wine for weeks.
Instructions
1. Purchase a wine pump at a home goods store. For less than $20, you can buy a set with a few rubber corks and a hand pump.
2. Put a rubber cork in the mouth of the bottle once you're done pouring the amount of wine you want that evening. You can discard the bottle's original cork.
3. Fit the hand pump over the rubber cork, and secure it by wrapping your hand around the place where they meet.
4. Raise and lower the hand pump quickly. This will be easy at first, then more difficult as the amount of air in the bottle decreases.
5. Continue pumping the air out until it is extremely difficult to raise and lower the pump, creating a vacuum in the bottle.
6. Remove the hand pump without wiggling the cork.
7. Repeat Steps 2 through 7 each time you re-open the bottle until the wine is finished.
Tags: hand pump, rubber cork
