Storing Opened Wine Bottles: The Battle with Oxygen

With the popularity of new laws that allow restaurant patrons to take home unfinished bottles of wine, the question among wine enthusiasts now is whether the wine will be drinkable the next day or even several days later. For many, the choice has always been: finish the bottle or pour it down the drain. For others, it means saving the bottle for cooking, but not drinking. There are others, however, who have found ways to save wine from opened bottles.

Chilling

Amy Reiley, author and wine expert, readily suggests storing the unused wine. “Once a bottle is opened, red or white, I stick it immediately in the refrigerator. There is a lot less chance of oxidization in the fridge.” Oxidization, of course, will kill any opened wine.

The fridge is really the first place to start. Wine kept there in a cool, dry place will keep the wine relatively drinkable, usually a couple of days. How drinkable and how long the wine will stay that way depends on the quality of the wine you purchased in the first place. Big young reds with high tannins can last a bit longer and may actually mellow to your liking. Some experts feel that whites can store better. Whether any wine is drinkable after a day or two (or longer) depends entirely on the sensitivity of your own palate. Many people just use the leftover wine for cooking within a day or two. Some adventurous souls even freeze the wine and use it to cook with.

Though etiquette has said to use the same cork the wine came with and to insert the cork wet side into the bottle, sometimes you just can’t use the cork to stopper the bottle. This can be because the cork was damaged in opening or that it swelled too much when it was removed and cannot be reinserted. Many wine experts are now suggesting that putting rubber corks in opened bottles is the best move. Not only are they easier to insert but they are not contaminated with anything that could have been on the original cork.

Always keep the bottle upright. Do not put it on its side on a rack. Since oxygen is the enemy of wine, having the bottle upright provides less surface area to come into contact with the oxygen in the bottle.

Rebottling

One great way to eliminate oxygen from opened bottles is by pouring the leftover wine into smaller containers.