The Best Way, According to the Professionals, to Preserve the Quality of an Opened Bottle of Wine

When you wake up in the morning, it's still there, glaring at you from the surface of your countertop. You are aware octordle that you will not be able to drink the whole bottle in one sitting, therefore the question now is what you should do with the bottle when it is only halfway consumed.

In the spirit of enjoying every last drop, we conducted a survey asking wine professionals and sommeliers from different parts of the nation for their advice on how to cope with those annoying bottles that are only partially consumed.

And despite the fact that the number of days that a wine is considered to be "good" after it has been opened can vary, as a primary matter of fact — some industry professionals put the window down to 36 hours, while others said wine was generally fine within a few days of being opened — the number varies depending on several different structural elements, such as the strength of the wine's tannins, the acid level, the sugar content, and the alcohol content.

In general, full-bodied red wines have a shelf life of anywhere from three to five days, whereas lighter wines often have a shelf life of just two to three days.

According to Max Pinksy, beverage director at The Rittenhouse in Philadelphia, who was interviewed by Travel + Leisure, lighter-bodied whites and reds have a tendency to go bad more quickly. "The shelf life of fuller-bodied wines is typically a few days. If you want to get the most out of sparkling wine, I wouldn't recommend keeping it for more than two or three days after opening it." It is not recommended to decant an older bottle of wine right away since aged wines are often more delicate than wines that have been produced more recently.

According to Paula de Pano, the sommelier at North Carolina's Rocks + Acid wine store, "the wine within has already broken down the tannins, so it becomes this rich, fragile liquid." T+L was given this information by Ms. de Pano. When wines have been aged for a "It is possible to "kill" the wine by shaking it or exposing it to an excessive amount of oxygen. Once a bottle of older wine has been opened, it is not something that should be left unfinished in my opinion."

Vino enthusiasts may now know that if they leave a bottle of wine open overnight, the quantity of oxygen that is able to enter the bottle will determine how the wine tastes the following day.

"Oxygen is the primary agent that contributes to the degeneration of wine," de Pano said. "Just the right amount of oxygen may alter and open up the wine, but too much can oxidize it."

According to his explanation, the most common strategy used by aficionados to circumvent this problem is to have equipment on hand for degassing their opened bottles.

The Coravin method is favored by a good number of sommeliers. Even though it starts at $99, it can prolong the shelf life of opened bottles for up to four weeks longer than they would have otherwise been able to. The Vacu Vin system is an alternative that comes in at a lower cost (beginning at $15). You also have the option of going the alternate way with Private Preserve, which is a spray that is used in restaurants that have been awarded Michelin stars to maintain the freshness of bottles in between pours.