Beer comes in a perfect single-serving size. For wine drinkers, however, it’s very unlikely to find a six pack of wine. So the next option is to figure out how to make a bottle of wine last all week. If you think about it; one bottle provides 5 glasses of wine and, if you spend $20 on a decent bottle, that’s only $4 per glass. It’s nice to know that fine wine is actually pretty affordable.
There are now several badass tools on the market that can run up to $300 to keep your wine perrrfect but let’s be serious here — that’s a lot of money to keep oxygen from touching your wine. The following tips are cheap or free.
How long does opened wine last?
Up to 2 weeks
Wine will last when properly stored. Maximize how long wine lasts once opened with the following tips.
Tips on Storing Open Wine
We’d like to thank Mr. Rainbow (no joke, that’s his real name) for some of his favorite tips on storing open wine. These techniques are free or cheap and will have you drinking all week.
Keep your wine chilled
Before you pop open that bottle, throw it in the fridge. It doesn’t matter if it’s white or red, old or new — if it’s chilled, the molecules will not oxidize as quickly (thermodynamics in action). If you plan on enjoying your bottle all week, put it back in the fridge when you’re done pouring.
- Treat wine like you would any regular perishable grocery
- Fridge temperatures aren’t meant for long term aging
- Avoid light strike by keeping wine away from windows
- White wines and light red wines (like Pinot Noir) are more sensitive to oxygen and light.
Transfer wine into smaller containers
Wine lasts longer with less exposed oxygen. If you reduce the amount of surface area the wine touches, it will last up to 2 weeks in a fridge. The easiest way to do this is to transfer the wine from its original bottle into smaller bottles with corks. You can buy 187 ml ‘splits’ of wine and just transfer the wine once you use them. The benefit of using jars or smaller glass bottles means you will take up less vertical fridge space.
Don’t bother with small bottles? Get a wine preserver
If you don’t have time to futz with funneling wine from one bottle into another, consider buying a Vacu-Vin. It’s one of the more affordable, reliable and practical wine preservers on the market. The Wine Folly team keeps up to 10 bottles this way in our fridge.
Get a Vacu-vin Wine Preserver