How to Store An Open Bottle of Wine

You open your favourite bottle of wine at home and you cannot finish it.  It happens sometimes you know.  So, what do you do?  How you can properly store opened wine and ensure it still delicious in a couple of days?

The fact is that once a bottle is opened, it goes bad quickly. Oxygen is a frenemy of wine.  Oxygen initially improves the taste of wine, but extended exposure can ultimately ruin a wine.  Oxidization and exposure to air will change its flavour profile and colour. The result is that you will have a something bland, has more tannin if it is red, or tastes sour and astringent, depending on how tainted the wine becomes. Once you open a bottle of wine the clock it ticking.  Here are some fool-proof tips to help enjoy you wine in another day. 

Remember one of the biggest threats to wine is surface area. The more wine in contact with oxygen, the more quickly it will start to degrade. If you have only drank half a bottle of wine, this means the leftover wine in the bottle is now exposed to a half bottle of oxygen

Re-cork it right away or use wine stoppers.

A straight method is to replace the cork correctly and use the same stained side of the cork to keep the wine clean.  In case you damage, through away the cork or you lost the screw cap of your favourite wine, use a wine stopper (plaster or metal) to create an air-tight seal.  There are stoppers designed for sparkling wines to preserve as much fizz.  

Rebottle your wine

There is a nick trick to avoid a half, large bottle full of oxygen that will flatten your wine.  Use a funnel to transfer the remaining wine into a half bottle (37.5cl size).  It will be easier if it was a screw cup half bottle.  Therefore, you now minimize the air exposure.  This will help to maintain the quality of your wine for a few more days.  Once you finish up your wine, you can rinse the half bottle and use it again and again — no need for a fancy gadget.

Refrigerate immediately

Whether you use the original bottle with a cork or a stopper or you are using half bottle place them in the fridge.  In there little new home, cooler temperatures will surely slow down the process of the exposed wine from braking down significantly.  Once the door is closed, the fridge is dark, therefore your bottle is kept out of light, which is best for storing red or white wines.  Do not keep leftover wine on the counter after recorked, although many of you will admit of doing it.  Hey, do you leave the leftover food out on the counter.  No, so straight to the fridge.  Your wine should still be great the next night, ready to be polished off when you get home from work.  In addition, the bottle should be stored in an upright position to reduce the surface area exposed to oxygen.

If you don’t mind paying, a professional wine preserver can help you keep your wine fresh for even longer. Although there are many gadgets and devices available, two wine preservation systems seem to be the most popular and effective.

Vacuum pump

This is an inexpensive way to preserve opened wine, especially useful for red wines.  You pump and it reduced as much air from the ullage in the open bottle by literally sucking it out. Vacuum pumps ensure that your wine stays healthier than the other methods for longer period.  Look out for Vacu Vin; is the best-known brand – this company invented the vacuum pump wine preservation system. They promise up to two weeks extra life for an opened bottle of wine.

The needle does it

Inert wine gas preservation systems can keep your opened wine fresh for even longer, but this is usually more of an enthusiast option since they can be quite expensive. 

What happens though with high-end bottles?  Then it is time to call Coravin in action. This is the best, known brand.  This device, which looks much like a Rabbit opener, pierces the cork with a needle and tops the bottle with argon gas. Pour what you want, remove the needle and the cork will seal naturally. Many restaurants use it to sell top-shelf wines by the glass.

The last was is simply to…

Finish it

A regular bottle is 75cl, roughly five glasses roughly.  If you and yours have two glasses each, split the last glass.  Best, enjoy the wine while eating a decent-size dinner.  It is not bad and according to medical studies recently 1-3 glasses may improve your heart health

And if you’re not able to finish the opened wines within the week, you can also use them for cooking. Make pasta sauces, deglaze roast pans, and enhance flavours of stews or marinate meats.