Q: I enjoy a glass of red in the evening, but I don’t drink the whole bottle. On the second and later evenings, it doesn’t taste as good. How can I avoid this deterioration? J.R., Romsey, Vic

That’s a good question that a lot of people ask. What you need is a wine preserver, and there are a vast number of wine preservation systems on the market, which is probably a reflection of public interest. Inert gas spray-cans, vacuum pumps, little plastic floppy discs that float on the surface of the wine, stoppers that squirt preservative stuff in the bottle, and lots more brilliant ideas to fleece the unsuspecting public of its hard-earned. Every Father’s Day brings a new one.

I wring my hands when people tell me their vacuum pump conserves their wine. Did you ever try keeping a control bottle with the same wine, with the same airspace in it, to compare? I ask. You’d probably find doing nothing at all gives you the same result. They never do. They assume the vacuum pump preserves the wine.

With many wines, if you put the leftover wine in the fridge – with a secure stopper like a screw-cap – it will be fine for a day or two. Most young white wines, like rieslings, keep well for several days.