Full disclosure: most of the time, I’m able to polish off a bottle of red wine over dinner. There are times, however, when I don’t and am left with no choice but to store the wine for later or the next day. I can’t bear the thought of wasting this intense fruity beverage.
So today I want to share with you how best to preserve your opened bottle of red wine for a few days.
But first, why does an opened bottle of red wine go bad?
HEAT & OXYGEN are wine’s main frenemies. If you leave an open bottle out long enough, your once tasty beverage could end up smelling like sweaty socks or a wet piece of cardboard. Heat is therefore a huge concern and the number one most common wine fault that I see. Oxygen on the other hand turns red wine into vinegar.
Storing opened red wine is easy with the use of cheap tools and a few simple tips:
– Re-cork the wine after every glass
– Keep the opened wine bottle away from any light and store at room temperature
– Store in the refrigerator. When kept at cold temperatures, red wine stays fresh for longer and the chemical process slows down. Wine stored and corked inside the fridge will stay fresh for 3-5 days
– Transfer the left over wine into a small wine bottle and close with a cork
And remember “in every sip taken in the present we drink in the past.”