Good Morning!

I was ask this week about what to do with leftover wine and how long does it last, how to store it, and are there any other uses for the wine before pouring it out. Well, If i have friends over, I rarely have leftovers and I have become famous on days when I am doing large tastings, to have a group of “winos” who come over to help me with the bottles that are open so I do not have to dump wine.

Great question and I have lots of ideas, some are good, some not so much, but I used to have this problem and I think I can help in some way. First of all if you are having dinner and alone, you will probably not knock off a bottle on your own, unless it has been a Monday from hell. Then if you do knock off the bottle, Tuesday will most likely be a morning from hell as well. My goal in life is not to be drunk and hungover. I like to remember what I said and did and so polishing off a bottle alone is not really a good thing for me, your tolerance might be different from mine.

Anyway, Let’s say you enjoyed a half bottle of screw-cap white wine last night with chicken and you put the bottle back in the frig afterward, how long will that wine last? No wine will ever be the same as it was when first opened, but about 24-48 in the frig, it should still be fine.

If you opened a bottle of red and had a couple of glasses while eating a steak and you shoved the cork back in the bottle and sat the bottle on the counter top, you might finish it off the next night and it should be just ok…I find that if I do this, that the red wine has a copper penny metal taste thing going on in the finish of the wine.

If you would have put the cork in the bottle and put it in the frig, yes red wine in the frig, the next night, pour a glass, let the temperature come up a bit and it should taste pretty good. You buy yourself an extra day or so in the frig. Once wine is opened it is exposed to oxygen and that starts it’s demise.

Here are the things I do to try to keep the wine good longer. Like I said on tasting days, I invite as many over as possible, to help me finish up the wine and also, it helps me to taste the wines several time throughout the day to see how it opens up and with my pals over they can taste and we can all compare tasting notes.

Here are some of my favorite things to do with extra wine….I have ice cube trays in my freezer and I pour the wine in the trays and once it is firm I put the red cubes in a freezer zip-loc bag and when I am making soups, sauces etc…I throw in a cube or two to add the wine!

I do the same with white wine, but I rarely ever cook with much white wine, but I keep a bag in the freezer and add the white wine cubes to it. Through the summer time it is hot here so I pour the cubes in a pitcher and add some fresh fruit and sometimes some Sprite or 7-Up and I am all set for a day at the pool. I have made sangria out of the red cubes too!

I also have a small wine barrel (holds 2 gallons) and that barrel was used years ago for wine but somehow it picked up an acid that turned the wine into vinegar (those were the earlier winemaking years in the basement) but I would take leftover wine and add it to the barrel, it makes for a wonderful vinegar for salad dressings and marinades. If you do not have a barrel, go get one of those clear bottles with a “hinge” type thing stopper that has a rubber grommet on it, I buy them at World Market all the time and pour the remaining wine in there with some red wine vinegar or Balsamic vinegar and you can throw in garlic or rosemary and start your own vinegar and marinade.

I would just say a wine that has been open more than 3 days to me at least, has lost it’s appeal in my mouth.

I hope this gives you some ideas…or better yet, invite someone to help you with that bottle in the first place!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi