If you are drinking a good bottle of wine, there should not be any leftovers. But as crazy as it sounds, there are times when bottles of wine go unfinished.
According to wikiHow, once you open a bottle of wine, it can improve in flavour over the next few hours as it mixes with the oxygen in the air. However, after a longer period, oxygenation will turn the flavour dull.
Below is how you can keep the remaining wine you don’t drink from an open bottle as fresh as possible.
Sealing and storing wine
Cork the bottle. Close a bottle of wine after pouring individual glasses from it. Use the cork that the bottle came with, or a reusable wine stopper.
Stick a bottle in a chiller or fridge. Put any leftover wine in a bottle into a wine chiller or the refrigerator. Keep most wine for a few days this way.
Avoid heat and light. Keep an opened wine bottle away from direct sunlight and high heat. Favor cool, dark areas or a fridge.
Extend the life of your open bottle by following these tips to keep the wine glass tasting delicious and fresh. Picture: Supplied
Removing or replacing oxygen from wine
Transfer to a half bottle. Pour your leftover wine into a half-size wine bottle and seal. This will reduce the surface area of the wine that’s exposed to oxygen, slowing the aging process
Purchase a vacuum pump. Buy a vacuum cap system for wine, which removes the oxygen from inside the bottle. Potentially lengthen the freshness of leftover wine in this way.
Invest in an inert gas system. Replace the oxygen in an opened bottle of wine with an inert gas, most commonly Argon. You can buy a device for this purpose from wine retailers.
Accounting for different types of wine
Take extra care with sparkling wine. Avoid attempting to keep sparkling wine for more than one to three days. Put it in the refrigerator and seal it to avoid losing its carbonation.
Put reds in the fridge, too. Keep opened bottles of red wine, not just white wine, in a wine chiller or the fridge. Just allow leftover red wine to warm back to room temperature before serving.
Keep long-lasting fortified and box wine. Try keeping fortified wine, such as Marsala, Port, or Sherry, for much longer than any other type of wine. You can also buy bag-in-a-box style wine for longer storage.