Does a vacuum contain oxygen?

I always use an Argon gas to top my carboys. But when drinking a bottle of wine that is not finished I have recently purchases one of those hand held vacuum pumps. It comes with a few of it's own stoppers and as you pump it draws the air out of the bottle and creates a vacuum. It is suppose to preserve the wine longer. My question for the scientific minds is we understand the process of laying a blanket of gas on the wine to protect it against oxygen. But does the vacuum method really do the same? Is all the oxygen really gone under a vacuum environment? If I had a real little man with a match sitting on a boat in that bottle of wine..... Would the match light? When I pump this device I can definitely smell the wine air coming out....


Sam

No, it does not remove enough O2 to protect the wine. Many people have tested them and found out they are no better than just stuffing the cork back in and putting the bottle in the fridge. Backfilling (flushing) out the headspace with Argon is a much superior way to preserve an open bottle for a few days to a week or so depending on how tight the seal is.

My experience with those handheld devices is that they do not have much ability to create a vacuum. 2nd is that the vacuum stopper being used typically leaks as well.
Argon is a much better solution for this application.

Better solution is to never leave an open bottle of wine. Drink it.

dralarms said:

Better solution is to never leave an open bottle of wine. Drink it.

Click to expand...

I really like the KISS method and that is right up my alley !!

Lol. Just nobody tell my wife it's safe to leave an opened bottle (with a t cork) in the fridge and we will be ok.