How to Preserve an Open Bottle of Wine

If you find yourself unable to finish a bottle of wine in one go for whatever reason-pregnant, heavily medicated, and/or narcoleptic-follow these steps to preserve the quality of the wine from day to day.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Spray can of wine preserver or
• Vacuum pump

1. Keep the cork. You can purchase plastic bottle stoppers, but this is totally unnecessary. If the cork kept the wine well maintained before you opened the bottle, it will do the same after you open the bottle. The cool thing about cork is that it is highly elastic. The tiny hole that you made with the wine key is going to be inconsequential as the cork has already expanded to fill the voids (unless you broke the cork).

2. Buy a spray preserver or vacuum pump. Either of these items protects the wine in the bottle from the air in the bottle. As you know, wine essentially turns into vinegar as it comes into contact with oxygen. And this happens fairly quickly. Cut open an apple and leave it there for an hour. The white flesh will turn brown. This organic reaction happens with the grapes in your wine as well. It is a positive thing for many wines for a short period. That's one of the reasons why you decant wine or pour wine into a glass and let it chill out for 20 minutes. The wine in your glass is constantly changing. The oxygen softens the tannins (chewy, aggressive structure of wines) and helps the wine "open up" to allow some of the softer flavors to come out. However, to keep your wine from turning to vinegar overnight, remove the air from the bottle. The vacuum pump sucks the air out while the spray forces some of the air out and leaves a blanket of inert gases to coddle your bottle of joy during the night. Buy the spray at any wine retailer.

3. Stand the bottle up in a cool dark setting. Counter tops are generally too warm, especially if you crank the heat up to replicate tropical climates like I do. The fridge is fine; just don't freeze your wine-55 degrees is ideal.

4. Revisit the wine within a day or two. Don't let this precious gem sit all alone on a shelf next to such common items such as milk or wine's impish cousin, juice. Drink it within a week's time at most.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not lay the bottle on its side after opening. Side storage is good for unopened bottles because it preserves the cork. But the cork's day is almost done and what you need to focus on is reducing the surface area of the wine exposed to any elements in the remaining space of the bottle.