History of
Wine Storage

In ancient times wine was stored in clay jars that were sealed with resin, wax or cork. Wine stored thus was able to be transported between the various regions of Europe. However such seals were not tight enough to keep wine for extended periods of time. Resin and wax seals were unreliable, and due to variations in the size and shape of the openings of the clay jars, corks fit poorly.

In the 1600s glass bottles with tightly fitting corks were invented and it became practical to store wine for long periods. Glass bottles and corks are still unrivaled as the best method to store wine.

Glass wine bottles are sized as a compromise between the average amount of wine one person might like to drink at a time and the fact that the smaller the bottle the faster wine ages and the shorter time it can be stored. The standard wine bottle is sized (750ml) to hold as much wine as two persons might like to drink at one time. The smaller size (375ml) “split” bottles hold as much wine as one person might like to drink at one time. But since the half size bottles have four times the ratio of glass surface to volume wine stored in them ages aproximately four times as fast. The result is that wine stored in splits is often past it's prime when a bottle is opened. Correspondingly, larger size (1.5L) “magnum” bottles hold as much wine as four or more people might like to drink at one time. And since the double size bottles have only one quarter the ratio of glass surface to volume wine stored in them ages aproximately four times slower. The result is that wine stored in magnums often has not yet reached it's prime when a bottle is opened.

The result of the wine bottle size compromise is that most often there is more or less wine in a bottle than the person or people opening the bottle would like to drink at one time. Also very often when a bottle is opened the wine has either not yet reached it's prime age or is already past it's prime age.

For over three hundred years the wine bottle size compromise frequently determined when and how much wine people drank. Storing wine in bottles was limited by the inability to recork a bottle once it was opened. There was no easy and reliable way to drink part of a bottle without sacrificing the ability to store the remaining wine.

Scott Farmer's invention of Private Preserve greatly improves the utility of glass wine bottles and corks. Now wine drinkers can drink as much as they want at one time and easily store the rest of a bottle for another time.

Private Preserve makes it practical to drink wine by the glass instead of by the bottle.


SCIENCE

BENEFITS