If you are like me, when you open a bottle of wine, it's unlikely that you are going to enjoy it alone. I tend to open a bottle of wine (or two!) when I have company over or on special 
occasions with my husband (such as Valentines day) so it is unlikely that the bottle(s) are not finished the same evening they are opened. Once in a while after a really long day at work, I'll come home with aching feet and crack open a bottle just to wind down and enjoy one glass whether or not Rob will join me. In these situations I will then either invite someone over to enjoy the rest of the bottle the next day (if Rob will not) or I'll have another glass or two over the next couple of days and hope I finish it before it goes bad.
A bottle of wine is generally "good" for about 3 to 4 days after it has been opened. Not to say that you couldn't drink it after then (it's not going to kill you), it would just taste much more acidic, or start to smell like a wet newspaper once it is passed it's prime. The reason for this is oxygen. I know this seems strange because we're always being told to decant wines to let them "breathe" before drinking them, but this is only for short periods of time. The wine can become exposed to too much oxygen which turns the alcohol into an acetic acid making it taste a tad like vinegar.
I know it can be difficult to poor out what seems to be a perfectly good bottle of wine because you didn't drink it quickly enough, but sometimes we just have to make that sacrifice if we have left it too long.
So you see, wine is sort of like a puppy. If you neglect it for too long it will turn bad.
Cheers,
Andrea
occasions with my husband (such as Valentines day) so it is unlikely that the bottle(s) are not finished the same evening they are opened. Once in a while after a really long day at work, I'll come home with aching feet and crack open a bottle just to wind down and enjoy one glass whether or not Rob will join me. In these situations I will then either invite someone over to enjoy the rest of the bottle the next day (if Rob will not) or I'll have another glass or two over the next couple of days and hope I finish it before it goes bad.A bottle of wine is generally "good" for about 3 to 4 days after it has been opened. Not to say that you couldn't drink it after then (it's not going to kill you), it would just taste much more acidic, or start to smell like a wet newspaper once it is passed it's prime. The reason for this is oxygen. I know this seems strange because we're always being told to decant wines to let them "breathe" before drinking them, but this is only for short periods of time. The wine can become exposed to too much oxygen which turns the alcohol into an acetic acid making it taste a tad like vinegar.
I know it can be difficult to poor out what seems to be a perfectly good bottle of wine because you didn't drink it quickly enough, but sometimes we just have to make that sacrifice if we have left it too long.
So you see, wine is sort of like a puppy. If you neglect it for too long it will turn bad.
Cheers,
Andrea
3 comments:
Good article, I always wondered how long you could have an open bottle before it goes bad. I usually do drink my wine alone, except on the weekends if we go dancing. I usually have a glass when I get home from work and occasionally on a Friday nite I might even have two glasses so a bottle usually lasts me for about 4 or 5 days so I guess that's not too bad. Anyway, glad to see you're writing again! luv ya!
The wine in our house nearly always gets finished the same night it is opened! Although occasionally we'll open a bottle and have just one glass or I'll open a bottle on my own. We've found the sealers called Vac-u-Vin (I think) to be very successful in
keeping wine fresh for several days.
Vac-u-Vin products are pretty good. You can usually stretch a bottle an extra couple of days but not much more than that. I'm the same way as you though, we rarely leave a bottle unfinished so it's not usually a problem.
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