WINE:Sometimes a half bottle is just enough, and there are lots of options to choose from, writes John Wilson
OXYGEN IS THE enemy of wine. Once you open a bottle, it begins the process of decay. Ultimately it will turn to something resembling vinegar; in fact, most vinegar is exactly that, wine that has been allowed to oxidise. Decanting a bottle will jump-start the ageing process, and often improves a young wine, whether red or white. However, most wines need to be drunk fairly quickly, ideally the same day they are opened.
Wine comes in all shapes and sizes, from the quarter bottle to the giant 15-litre Nebuchadnezzar. There are many times when opening a full bottle can be wasteful (or a dangerous temptation). What if you want to drink just a glass with a friend who has dropped in? Or maybe just to have a glass or two over dinner, by yourself or with your partner, as an aperitif, or with a starter before moving on to a different bottle?
There are a number of options, but for me, the half-bottle is the most useful size of all. It will give you three decent glasses of wine, or a glass plus a top-up, for two. It's a perfect size to drink alongside some fish, before starting into a red with the main course, or as a mid-week treat with your dinner.
Many wine producers offer half-bottles, but they are sadly ignored by importers and public alike. Both may be put off by the extra cost, which can be extortionate when compared with full bottle size. A lot is down to the size of the bottling run - bottling small amounts of wine is expensive. This does not prevent most of the top properties in Burgundy, Bordeaux and the Rhône from offering half-bottles.
Over the past year, I have bought a dozen or more half-bottles of very good red wines, to open on an evening when I feel the need for a little gentle cosseting. Half-bottles mature quicker than full ones, often an advantage with red wines, but keep an eye out for the vintage on white wines such as Sauvignon.
The traditional wine merchants, such as Mitchell & Son, Searsons and Berry Brothers, often offer the best range of halves. Berry Brothers claim to have the largest selection in the country, which includes some real delights. You may also come across some 50cl bottles, another very useful size for a mid-week dinner à deux.
We Irish are not averse to small bottle sizes; we have a unique attachment to quarter bottles. Per head of population, we consume far greater quantities of these than any other country. At one time, sales of quarter bottles accounted for a staggering 15 per cent of the market.
This all started a decade or so ago, when the Irish publican felt free to offer a glass of something resembling battery acid instead of wine. Often the wine had been open for several weeks, and had lost any vestige of fruit it might once have contained. The answer was the quarter bottle. Some of these have a short shelf-life, and need to be bought from a shop or pub with a brisk turnover.
Another solution, seen more and more often in pubs, wine bars and restaurants, is the Verre-au-Vin, a pump system that extracts all air from an opened bottle, creating an oxygen-free vacuum. This means that the more adventurous establishments can now offer a wide range of interesting wines by the glass without incurring the risk of wines losing freshness.
For home use, there is the Vacu-Vin system, which works on a similar principal, or the Private Preserver, which sprays a harmless layer of nitrogen over the wine.
One other option, available to both restaurants and the home-drinker, is Bag-in-Box Wine. These are very popular in other countries, Sweden in particular, where they comprise more than 50 per cent of wine sales. The bag slowly collapses as you remove wine through the tap, keeping the remaining liquid safe from air. White wines can be kept in the fridge. Sadly there is a limited range available in this country.
My own favourite method obviates the need for any gadget at all. When you open a full bottle of wine, pour half into an empty half-bottle kept for that purpose, and put the cork in. It will keep for the next couple of days.
It is not only half-bottles that we ignore; large format bottles are said to mature at a slower rate, and are therefore much sought-after by some collectors. As they are also rare, they can sometimes fetch large sums at auction. I was at one party recently where all the wines - Champagne, white and red - were served from magnums. It added a real touch of class to the affair. If you are having a party, it is well worth considering.