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Tips On Storing Open Wines
Ever been caught in a situation where you have half a bottle of wine left and you have no idea how to handle it? Fret not! The following are some easy tricks to help you store your open wine!
- Know Your Wine Type
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The duration on how long wine can last varies from the type of wine.
Sparkling Wine: 24 hours at most - once opened it will start to go flat. Without a good stopper, few will last more than 4 hours.
White Wine: 1 - 3 days. White wine is primarily consumed for fresh fruit flavors, and these fade quickly once opened. Heavier wines (like oaky Chardonnay) tend to last longer than Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc.
Rosé Wine: 1 - 3 days. Lighter rosés are like white wines and will fade quickly. Some fuller bodied wines will still taste fine after a few days.
Light-bodied Red Wine: 1 - 3 days. Like white and rosé, lighter reds are built around the freshness of fruit, which fades quickly.
Full-bodied Red Wine: 1 - 5 days. Some heavy reds - like Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah - may even improve after being open for a day or two, particularly when they are young and tannic. The oxygen softens the wines and brings out the aromas. After a couple of days the fruit will fade.
Fortified Dessert Wine: 7 - 14+ days. The high alcohol and sugar content of these wines allows them to withstand the oxygen onslaught much better than dry wines
- Keep it chilled
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Keeping your open wine in the refrigerator slows down the oxidization process so your wine can last relatively longer. If it’s a bottle of red wine, be sure to let it sit in the open so that it can return to its optimal temperature.
- Stick it back in
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This is probably the easiest way, which is to cork it with a tight fitting stopper or use the original cork. There are a lot of fancy stoppers in the markets right now which are often more decorative rather than functional so do make sure you get a good one.
- Use a Vacuum Pump
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If you’re an avid wine drinker, I strongly recommend that you get a vacuum pump.
By sucking out oxygen in the bottle with a vacuum pump, the oxidization process is slowed which helps to retain the aromas and flavours of the wine for a longer time. Note this method does not return the bottle to the original state before it was opened.
Now that you have learnt these tricks, next time when you have an unfinished bottle of good wine, you know how to and how long you can store it for.