We know many types of wine, like red, white, rosé, fruit and mead. Every wine is different. They have different attributes, taste, aroma, and endurance rate, making each one of them unique in their kind.
Even so, a lot of people consider the red wine as the “original” one. Well, it’s not a big surprise, as the red wine is the oldest and the most famous type in the wine industry. As mentioned, every type of wine has different endurance rates, and now we will talk about how long the red wine lasts being fresh.
Today we will get informed more about the red wine and its endurance to various components. Reading this article, you’ll also know when and why the red wine spoils.
Also, what kind of methods should you use in order to prevent that from happening. Sometimes wines, especially the red ones, behave like a little human being you constantly have to take care of. It may sound odd, but you will get what I mean after reading this article until the end.
How long can you keep an opened bottle of the red wine?
First of all, it’s important knowing that you must keep your red wine in a dark, cool place after opening. Overall, the red wines last for about 3 – 5 days after being left open.
Of course, most of the red wine bottles are dark, but they don’t fully protect the beverage from radiation. If wine contacts the light, then the taste of it will significantly worsen, and remember, you don’t want that to happen.
Why keep it in a cool place? The reason is that the average temperature of wine is approximately 55 Fahrenheit and 12.7 in Celsius.
The hot temperature will excessively affect the flavor and shrink the corks, letting the air to get inside. It also prevents any kind of light to interact the bottle.
The more tanning wine has, then the more there are chances of lasting long. A light red-colored wine, such as Pinot Noir would never last longer than Petite Sarah, a rich red wine. Sometimes leaving the red wine open actually improves rather than spoils.
How long does the red wine last once screw top opens up?
The red wines can last for years when they are closed. However, once opening up, their days are counted. It may seem weird, but it is what it is, and that’s the reality.
The life of the red wine depends on a variety of factors, such as the producing method, vintage and the way it is being kept in storage. Wine is not a cognac. It doesn’t get better over time, and there is a high recommendation of using it not long after the production.
Anyways, if you have opened a bottle of red wine, you must know that it’ll taste a little worse after one or two weeks. I case of keeping it for more than two weeks, the beverage may get moldy.
Still, it’s essential to know that a lot depends on the wine, its quality, the number of how many times the bottle was opened, and how much air is it left inside. It’s pretty obvious that the high-quality wine spoils a lot later than the bad one.
Despite all that, we all want our delicious and pure red wine to taste the same, as it does after removing the cork for the first time. We had a good time enjoying it now, then why not to have it later as well?
In order to prevent the wine from getting spoiled, you will need to check out some of these useful methods and tips that are really worth trying.
Firstly, always re-cork the bottle with its original cork, using the stained side downwards as it was before. The clean side you think of may not actually be that clean, so be careful.
In case of not having the cork, you can try using some sort of plastic material closing the bottle from outside and wrap it with a rubber band.
Secondly, put the beverage in the refrigerator. It slows down the process of flavor loss, while also preventing the wine from heating up.
Note, that you have to put it vertically, otherwise, it’ll expose the bigger amount of surface to the oxygen.
You can also transfer the liquid inside of the bottle to a half-size bottle. It minimizes the air exposure, not letting the oxygen to flatten the taste of the wine.
This technique will also slow the process of aging. If you don’t have any half-bottles, pick a small container so the leftover of the wine would fit there tightly, closed with a cork or screw-top.
There is also the option of buying a vacuum pump, which is created for removing the left oxygen from the bottle. Another interesting method to invest in.
Finally, it’s common for many people and wineries to replace the oxygen with an inert gas. Argon is the cheapest inert, non-reactive gas, spread all around the world. You must do everything it takes, not to have a lot of air contacting the wine.
Now you know what to do and when to do. Wines love romance, and you always have to be gentle, not to hurt it.
How long does the red wine last in the fridge unopened?
We have already talked about the ways of how the fridge benefits wines, once placed inside it. We use it not for wines only, but for a variety of products.
The function of it primarily consists of keeping the food from spoiling and the same goes for any type of wine as well.
Speaking of refrigerator specifically for red wine, we can state that the best temperature for the wine inside it is between 50 – 59 degrees in Fahrenheit (10 – 15 in Celsius), which keeps wine from short storage, and what is more, it actually makes the wine to age for longer term storage. Unlike being outside of the fridge at 71 F (21 C), the wine cools down, and fewer reactions interact.
Now the question pops up. How long can we actually store wine in the refrigerator? Well, the answer to this question is quite complicated, as factors like age and sulfite play a huge role here.
If you got an old bottle of wine, then you better drink it within a couple of hours, as refrigerator can’t really do the magic with wine that is more than 15 years old.
The beverage would just lose its flavor and significantly worsen. However, if we are talking about wines that are about 2 years old, then they would last for three or four days at most.
Now let’s jump into the sulfite part. Sulfite or Sulfur Dioxide (SO2, mostly used in Chemistry) is a chemical compound, preserving the occurrence of oxidation.
It also restrains the growth of acetobacter, the bacterium, bacteria that converts ethanol to acetic acid while interacting with oxygen.
It’s important to know that wines having 25 – 30 ppm (parts per million) are way better than the ones with 10 ppm, which, in their turn, are better than the wines with no ppm at all.
For now, we can consider that wines bottled with ppm between 25 – 30 ppm can last much longer than the ones having fewer of it.
In short, those are the two main factors, deciding whether the wine is capable of lasting long enough or not.
Gathering all the information, we can safely assume that the red wines older than 10 years need to be consumed within 24 hours or less, while the ones that are 5 – 10 years old need to be gone in one day. At last, wines that are 1 – 5 years old and have good ppm can last for about 2 – 4 days overall.
How to store the red wine after opening?
You already know some small tips and tricks regarding different methods of keeping the red wine after opening it. Here we will discuss them in full details, bringing every single factor to the table. Now let’s jump into the main task.
The wines love darkness, so it’ll better to keep them in a dark, cool place. After interacting with sunlight, the taste of the wine significantly worsens.
What is more, UV rays can penetrate the bottle even if the latter has UV filter into the glass. After putting it in a dark place, you should also wrap it up with some sort of cloth. This reduces the chances of any light to contact the bottle.
You already know that the corks should not be thrown away as trash. They don’t allow even more air to go inside. Corks have a big duty, and they fulfill it if put in the right spot. Each one of them is specifically designed for the bottle they were originally put in.
Temperature plays an important role when we talk about storing wine. At 75 F (24 C) wine begins to oxidize, so its temperature shouldn’t go over that degree. The ideal temperature for storing the red wine is 54 F (12.2 C).
Any degree less than 54 F won’t hurt the product, but it’ll slow down the aging process. In fact, the most important thing is that the temperature of the place where the wine is being stored must be as constant as possible. The quicker temperature changes, the more the wine suffers.
There is also a “not written” rule, stating that the storage area temperature of wines, especially the red ones, should not fluctuate more than 3 F (1.6 C) a day and 5 F (2.7 C) for a year.
Another important factor that keeps the red wine from spoiling is stability. Try to never move the bottle until it’s very necessary. Even the smallest vibrations, like noisy sounds, may affect the quality of the wine. Just keep it still.
Humidity has a great impact on wine. It’s mostly suggested to keep it at around 70%. More than the given percentage will cause the creation and growth of mold, as well as labels to loosen. On the other hand, if the humidity level is less than 70%, the cork will dry out, and evaporation will occur.
It’s not the first time we state that the wines are sensitive. They breathe like an organic creature. That is why you shouldn’t keep anything smelling bad around it. The smell can even penetrate through the cork and affect the flavor of the beverage.
Generally, not every wine improves over time, and it doesn’t matter whether we mean the red, white or rosé one. Here, we talk about the inexpensive wines.
The normal red wine can be stored for 2 – 10 years to mature. However, it also depends on the type of the red wine, its balance, the amount of tannin, sugar, and acid.
We have discussed things you should do to store the wine properly. Still, there are also things you must not do if you want to taste your good and rich wine again.
- Don’t ever store the bottle on its side. Place it upwards, otherwise more surface area will touch the oxygen, and you already know why the contact with oxygen is bad.
- Never put the red wine at temperatures more than 70 F. Try fridge instead. You can warm-up the beverage by putting it in warm water for a little bit. Note, that the wine temperature must not exceed the room temperature.
- Don’t place the wine near a window. This will cause discoloration, as well as worsening of taste because of sunlight. Dark storage areas are essential.
Here we go, now you got all the information needed to keep your red wine safe, delicious, pure and acid. Remember, it is not a cognac or whiskey.
Wine connects people’s hearts, and hearts always need a special treatment to be alive. Now go on and make sure you do everything properly this time. Cheers!
