How to Preserve Wine after Opening It

Once you open your bottle of wine, it can be tricky to figure out what to do with it. Maybe you don’t want to drink the whole thing. Maybe you just want a single glass, and you’re alone. Figuring out how to preserve wine after opening it does not have to be impossible. Just follow a few simple steps, and your wine will serve you again another day.

What Happens to Wine Once You Open It

Why it is so important to preserve wine once you open it? Oxygen, of course. Once oxygen has access to your wine, oxidation begins to set it, and it will not stop, even once you close it up. The effect of oxygen on a fermented beverage or food can have disastrous effects if you are not prepared for them.

Oxidation in wine over time causes the acetaldehyde in the drink to convert to acetic acid, which is what turns wine to vinegar. We see this sort of oxidation in many other situations in the real world. Rust is a byproduct of oxidation, for example. For this reason, we see white wines start turning brown and red wines become more orange colored. The same thing happening to that rusty nail is happening to your wine.

Furthermore, leaving wine exposed to the open air also leaves it exposed to potential bacterial toxins. We call the process of bacteria entering and damaging your wine bacterial spoilage. It can cause your wine to taste and smell “off.”

Thus, it is important to preserve wine as best you can if you are not going to drink the whole bottle at once.

How to Preserve Wine after Opening It

Close it right away

The first thing to do is close the bottle as soon as you realize you are not going to finish it. If you only intend to have a single glass, cork the bottle once you have poured your glass and store it. If you realize later, after you have drunk half the bottle, don’t worry. It’s not too late. Simply close it then. Sometimes, it can be difficult to get the cork back in the bottle as it expands as soon as you remove it. In this case, it is a good idea to invest in wine bottle stoppers that can act like a cork by shutting out oxygen until you are ready to drink your wine again.

No sunshine allowed

One really important note about wine is to keep it out of the sunshine. Once a fermented beverage is exposed to UV rays, it is in danger of getting “skunked.” The chemical reaction between UV light from the sun and yeast fermented beverages is awful. Your wine will not only turn sour, but it will turn into an awful beverage no one wants to smell, much less taste.

Keep it dark and cool

As such, be sure to store your opened wine in a cool, dry, dark place that will allow the wine to remain in its current state for as long as possible. Honestly, the refrigerator is the best possible location for your opened wine as it will chill it and keep it out of the light. You can never go wrong with putting your wine, yes, even your red wine, in the fridge.

Keep it upright

While it is best to keep your wine that has not yet been opened on its side, opened wine is best stored upright.

Why?

First, when a bottle has not yet been opened, storing it on its side allows the wine to keep the cork moist. This moisture will keep the cork sealed to the bottle and prevent it from drying out, which would allow oxygen to seep into the wine bottle and oxide the wine.

However, an opened bottle of wine has already been oxidized a bit, and you’re not going to keep it for that much longer anyway, so your best storage option is to keep it upright to minimize exposure of the surface area to oxygen.

How Long Will Opened Wine Last?

No matter how well you store and preserve your opened bottle of wine, you can only count on it lasting for 3 to 5 days. The wine has already been exposed to oxygen, which is oxidizing your wine as we speak, so get to it within that window, or utilize one of the alternatives to storing it for drinking.

Alternatives to Common Storage

It happens. You closed that bottle back up and then forgot about it. It’s been a week, or two, and now you’re not sure what to do. Fear not. While you may not want to drink the wine that is starting to sour, you can still put it to good use.

Flavoring for Meals

If you’re making a soup or stew, you can always add a cup, or more, of wine for flavoring, and no one will notice the slightly oxidized effect you would notice if you were drinking it from a glass.

Glazes and Gravies

Glazes and gravies are another great way to utilize wine that has gone a bit “off.” In fact, the slight vinegary effect might even make for a better sauce. Simply make a roux, a mixture of butter and flour, add some broth and some wine, et voila. Now you have a delicious sauce to pour over your meat or potatoes.

Mixed Drinks

So it’s been a few days since you opened that wine, and now you have friends coming over. You don’t want to offer them wine from an already opened bottle, but you can certainly offer them sangria! Turning your wine into a mixed drink like sangria or a wine spritzer is a great way to use leftover wine before it goes bad.

Ice Cubes

Finally, you can simply pour the rest of your opened bottle into an ice cube tray to preserve the wine to use for later for any of the above options.

In the end, you never have to let your wine go to waste, even if you don’t plan to pour yourself another glass anytime soon.

Cheers!

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