Most wine lovers have at least one wine preservation gadget either in the kitchen or in their cellar, but the Savino immediately became the favorite wine preservation system in my household for many reasons.
While not inexpensive at $59.95 with free shipping, it may well be the last wine preservation method you’ll buy. And it lives up to its slogan of “Today’s wine tomorrow.”
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This glassware is effective, rather sleek, reusable, easy to clean and simple to use. In some cases, the Savino takes up less space on the kitchen counter than the growler (for wise Oregonians) or bottle your wine came in. And the Savino requires much less space than many decanters, an important feature during the holidays when platters of food fill up the dining table.
The key feature of the Savino is a device so simple that it’s somewhat amazing no one else has launched it on a large scale before. It’s a tasteless and odorless plastic float that gently sits on top of the wine and keeps air from reaching the juice until you tip the carafe to pour. And after pouring, the bobber almost magically returns above the meniscus.
Pouring wine from the Savino is a simple task. You need to be a bit mindful not to pour so rapidly that the float tumbles into the wine glass, but anyone who can remove a cork from a bottle should easily manage that task.
Three days at room temperature seemed to have remarkably little impact on red wine during my trials. I noticed a tiny bit of aging after five days at room temperature, but that was after I sampled the wine at various levels – nearly full, half-full and a quarter-full – over several days.
If left in proper cellar conditions and without sampling at various times of the week, I wouldn’t doubt Savino’s straightforward claim of enjoying “Tuesday’s wine on Saturday.”
The glassware doesn’t require gentle handling, but I avoid tossing it in the dishwasher. In fact, the heating cycle might destroy that all-important floating disk.
Savino is based in Mountain View, Calif., and founder Scott Tavenner’s research began more than 15 years ago after he discovered his wife put a glass of wine in the refrigerator in hopes of enjoying it the next day.
She’s certainly not alone. The wine community’s search for the holy grail of an effective and simple preservation item explains why Tavenner’s Kickstarter campaign surpassed his goal by $65,000 on Nov. 23, 2012.
Those sprays, glass beans or hand-powered pumps? I never bothered with them. The effective and electric-powered Pek Supremo ($219.95) was given to a friend with a larger kitchen. My Pek Preservino Connoisseur ($99.95) sits in a drawer buried behind other wine gadgets, including Metrokane’s Rabbit Wine Sealer ($7.99) and several FoodSaver Wine Bottle Stoppers ($13.99). I’m not sure what I’ll do with those boxes of Pek argon canisters I picked up years ago.
I remain a fan and regular user of the Platypus PlatyPreserver ($9.95) – created by Seattle-based Cascade Designs – but the only time Savino isn’t sitting on my kitchen counter is when it’s on the dining table.
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