When it comes to red wine , the more tannins and acidity it has, the longer it's likely to last. In fact, some red wines taste better after they've had time to oxidize and breathe for a day.
Make sure to refrigerate open red wines — contrary to what some might say, leaving them on the counter at room temp is not a good idea. Thanks to the addition of distilled spirits, fortified wines like Port, Marsala , and Sherry will last longer than any other wines after you open them. Generally speaking, the sweeter the wine, the longer it will hold.
As with other wines, store fortified wines in the fridge. Compared to an open bottle of wine, an unopened bottle can last significantly longer. As in, years longer. The key is to store it properly more on this in just a moment. Still, the wine is going to break down eventually, so read the label and don't wait too long.
In a word, no. You can't keep wine from deteriorating completely — it's just a natural part of a wine's life span. But here are a few things you can do to slow down the process.
You don't need a wine cellar for proper wine storage, either. As long as you have a cupboard or other designated space that's cooler than room temperature and away from heat and light, your wine should be alright. Also called wine stoppers, bottle stoppers are those ubiquitous accessories that you can find at just about any online or retail store that sells wine or kitchen tools. There are some pretty fancy ones on the market that have vacuum seals and pumps that can reduce oxidation.
If you don't have a proper stopper and need a quick DIY hack, use plastic wrap or foil around the bottle opening and fasten it tightly with a rubber band. It's not the most elegant solution, but it's still effective and certainly better than nothing!
A humid environment is best to store wine bottles with a natural cork seal. Because cork is porous, it can easily dry out and shrink, thereby allowing air and bacteria into the bottle. Always start by examining and smelling wine that appears suspicious in any way.
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Napa Valley Map. Courtesy of Unsplash Marcelo Leal. The bacteria that turn wine into vinegar acetic acid, to wine chemistry geeks feed on oxygen.
They also multiply like crazy at room temperature, so chilling the wine keeps their party to a dull roar. Of course, there are lots of gadgets out there claiming to preserve wine, ranging from plastic vacuum pumps to spray cans of nonreactive gas.
In my experience, with one giant exception, none of these make a huge difference. I recommend that, if you do pump or gas your wine, you also store it in the fridge. The shining exception to these devices is the Coravin , which is easily the most effective—and expensive—tool ever invented to solve the problem of leftover wine. You can dole out glasses of wine over a period of months from a bottle, with no notable difference in freshness.
At the end of the day, you should always drink wines you enjoy. Mary G. Burnham is a writer, oenophile and East Coast native who followed the lure of the grape to California. She has spent over a decade in the wine industry, soaking up both knowledge and wine and then writing about it. Why Does Wine Go Bad? Left unchecked, wine becomes undrinkable. One of the advantages of bag-in-box wine is that it tends to last longer than an opened bottle. How sure are you about the plan to drink this particular bottle?
We have some helpful tips on chilling wine in a hurry. Wine is like us; in youth, we will recover more easily after an accident but when we are older, recovery will be more difficult. Wine corks can also harden if a bottle is in the fridge for too long, which may allow air through and give you oxidation problems. A temperature-controlled wine fridge will naturally give you an advantage by helping you to maintain constant, ideal conditions for storage more easily.
Original article published in with comments from Paolo Basso.
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