Wine storage after opening is a tricky business – oxygen exposure can turn wine into vinegar in hours (although it’s said this happens to aged wines a lot quicker than young vintages).
So, how should you store wine you intend to finish later?
No plug, no glug
The first tip is to buy a reusable bottle stopper. They come in different shapes and sizes, with different price points – but whether yours is cheap plastic or ornate crystal, what really matters is the plastic or rubber seal. Ideally yours should have words like ‘airtight’ or ‘vacuum seal’ on the packaging. Obviously, you don’t need this if you opened a screw-top bottle.
Upright and ready
Once you recorked your bottle you need to store it upright in the fridge. Leaving wine on the counter or exposed to sunlight makes it turn sour quicker. On top of that the mistake many people resealing screwtops make is storing it on it’s side in the fridge. It’s always important to store wine upright, as it ensures the least amount of surface exposed to oxygen.
A vine time
So how long will opened wine keep in the fridge? MCC or sparkling wine can keep up to three days, light white wines and rosé will last up to seven days, while fuller-bodied white wines will keep between three and five days.
You can keep red wines up to five days, while box wines will keep in the fridge up to a month.