Did you know that the rule of thumb is to have one bottle of wine per two people every two hours for a standard get-together? This may end up leading to a lot of wine, and if you have bottles open at the end of the night, it may feel like a waste to toss them out.
No matter what other types of alcoholic beverages your party may have had, wine is one of those that spoil faster than your average spirit, so what can you do?
If you want to preserve drinks for later, you have to make sure to store them correctly or risk the wine tasting like vinegar! Do you want to ensure your wine is safe (and still yummy) to drink later on?
Keep reading if you have an open bottle of wine that you don’t want to toss.
Red Wine
Once red wine is open, if you recork it and store it somewhere cool and dark, it should last for another three to five days.
Some types of red wine have more tannins in it, which are the compounds that come from grape seeds, stems, and skins (as well as wood barrels). This helps those rich red wines, like Shiraz, stay protected against the effects of oxygen for a little bit longer.
If you don’t have a cool and dark place, it’s a better idea to put the wine in the fridge instead of letting it sit out somewhere else. Temperatures about 70 degrees Fahrenheit will make your wine spoil faster.
Sweet White Wine (or Rosé)
Light white wine should be recorked and stored in your fridge. Doing this will allow the wine to last between five and seven extra days.
The wine might start to lose some of its unique taste as it oxidizes, but it is still drinkable. Just remember that the flavor may taste a little different if you try it again a week later.
Full-Bodied White Wine
Many of these types of white wines are exposed to more oxygen during the aging process, to begin with, so they won’t last as long as sweeter, lighter varieties. You can recork and store this wine in the fridge for three to five days after opening.
Again, the flavor may change a little bit toward the end of that period, so this is just something to keep in mind. If it ever tastes bad, then it likely has spoiled and should be tossed out.
Sparkling Wine
Sparkling wines are going to lose their carbonated bubbles pretty fast after you open the bottle, so to save them, you’ll need to invest in a sparkling wine stopper. Sparkling wine stoppers fit on all standard-sized bottles, so you should be able to use them over and over again.
Once you’re able to use that specialized stopper, you’ll have an extra one to three days out of the bottle if you put it in the refrigerator.
Don’t Throw Out That Open Bottle
Just because you have an open bottle that hasn’t been finished doesn’t mean you have to get rid of it! Instead, remember the tips we’ve mentioned here and always put your wine in the fridge with the cork back in if you don’t have a dark, cool place to keep it.
