Wine on Tap? the future is here.

Read it and be enlightened...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/dining/08pour.html

Isn't this what they have at L&N Wine Bar and Bistro?

What a fabulous idea. Hopefully it arrives soon.

Robin may well remember the wine bar that once resided on B-town Road, if he was in Louisville during that time. Might have been where Sweet & Savory is now. Not sure about the taps, but wine tasting won't be new here. Already been and gone, and back by way of L&N.

[Robin Garr]

It was The Winery. First restaurant I ever reviewed for the Louisville Times.

It's correct that L&N Wine Bar has the modern version of this, a 54-tap "Cruvinet" system that dispenses wine by the glass and protects the remaining wine in the bottle with inert gas.

Westport Whiskey & Wine in Westport Village also has a somewhat similar, smaller vending system for wine by the taste - it's cool because you operate it yourself with a debit card they issue you in return for your cash.

In other words, neat story, neat concept, but not really news, not even out here in flyover country.

Robin may well remember the wine bar that once resided on B-town Road, if he was in Louisville during that time. Might have been where Sweet & Savory is now. Not sure about the taps, but wine tasting won't be new here. Already been and gone, and back by way of L&N.

Read carefully, everyone! I, too thought it was a re-hash until I realized they were talking about tapping wine by the KEG, not by the bottle.

[Robin Garr]

Read carefully, everyone! I, too thought it was a re-hash until I realized they were talking about tapping wine by the KEG, not by the bottle.

Hmm, you're right, Marsha, doggone it!

Now I have a new issue, though. I'd like to know more about the technology, but this looks like a variation on the boxed-wine technology.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. In general, boxed wines come with cheap swill inside because that's what the industry thinks will sell in that form. But there are a few good ones, like Bota Box and Phelps' new Red Truck in a cool little faux wood barrel.

The concern, though, is that the bag-in-box technology will keep wine really fresh only for a few weeks. It's okay as long as there's turnover, but I hope none of these cutting-edge eateries will try to put very fine wine in a modified beer keg and plan to keep dispensing it for six months or a year.

Is Brix still around? I hope I remember that correctly. . .

[Robin Garr]

Is Brix still around? I hope I remember that correctly. . .

Far as I know, it is, but they didn't have a fancy dispenser system. Just open bottles and maybe gas them with an aerosol, but it wasn't really high-tech.

From my reading, this system should not suffer the same fate as the bag-in-a-box system as there is no chance of introducing any oxygen to the keg due to the nitrogen push. Since nitrogen is an inert gas, it would not alter the flavor of the liquid as is the case with even mild oxidation or the use of carbon dioxide as the "push" (CO2 applied to a liquid under pressure creates carbonic acid which is one of the flavor profiles of most beers and sodas). As long as the N2 was kept at a low enough pressure, it would not readily diffuse into the wine but would still cause enough of a differential to move the liquid from keg to tap. Guinness is dispensed with N2 (or perhaps a CO2/N2 mix) but at a much higher pressure in order to maintain the gas suspension in the liquid in the keg.
This system seems to operate on the same principle as the Cruvinet, but without as much of the set up cost and on a larger scale for the individual taps. There might be some savings associated with packaging as well.

[Robin Garr]

From my reading, this system should not suffer the same fate as the bag-in-a-box system as there is no chance of introducing any oxygen to the keg due to the nitrogen push.

Well argued, Daren, and I agree in principle. The only concern I would point out is that no physical system is 100 percent effective. Air (or more specifically, oxygen) is the enemy of wine in storage, as you know, and sooner or later, some is going to get in. This is even true of Cruvinet and similar systems: They're highly efficient but can't keep 100 percent of the O2 out of the wine. I'd venture that Len & Co. don't keep a specific bottle on the Cruvinet at L&N for more than a week or two, and I appreciate that.

The keg does sound like a cool idea. I'd like to see it in the real world and try the wine. Although as I typed that, I had a second cynical thought: Consider how much effort it takes to maintain a beer keg system and distribution lines to keep the beer fresh, not funky. Lots of bars don't do it well. Is it going to take the same kind of serious commitment by wine vendors to keep a wine keg system top-notch? I would guess so.

This article made me think of this. If you're ever in the Charlotte, NC area, hit up the Wine Store on Governor Morrison St. This might be the same concept that Westport Whiskey uses, but Wine Store opened on this premise 4 or 5 years ago.

It's run by a college friend of mine.

http://www.winestore-online.com/store/

Not arguing . . . just thinking out loud. If you only had a few lines and they were popular, I wouldn't think that freshness would be an issue. I am sure that there is a novelty factor at work here as well.
Regarding L & N, the ability to try so many different quality wines in one sitting is a huge draw. We always let the staff pick out different flights to go with our meal which is educational from a food pairing standpoint as well as just fun as hell if you are into wine the least bit.
I hear you regarding the draft lines . . . there are several bars in town that carry Smithwicks or Guinness, which is admirable, but the quality suffers from funky draft lines since most of their draft business is Bud Light.

How large are wine barrels? Setting aside sediment, could you not keep it simple and just tap the barrel near the bottom vs. running line and pushing it? Particularly red wine. CD

[Robin Garr]

How large are wine barrels? Setting aside sediment, could you not keep it simple and just tap the barrel near the bottom vs. running line and pushing it? Particularly red wine. CD

Not as practical as you might think, Catherine. Sizes vary, but the classic oak "barrique" of Bordeaux, widely used around the world, is 225 liters, just a bit larger than a 55 gallon oil barrel. That's a lot of wine - 300 standard bottles. Also, the barrel is expensive, and the wineries typically keep them for several years. They don't sell the wine in the container it's aged in.

You also have the problem of wine deteriorating quickly on exposure to oxygen. Simply tapping and draining the barrel would not do without some kind of protective technology to keep it airtight. And as I was discussing with Daren, even the most advanced wine-keeping technologies can't really do that at 100 percent efficience. It's the wine equivalent of the perpetual-motion machine problem.