How to Keep Opened Wine Fresh

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By Summersile
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If you're like me, the idea of finishing an entire bottle of wine by yourself may seem a bit daunting. There was a time when I would for-go the pleasure of a glass, not wanting to risk letting the rest of the bottle go to ruin.
While there are a number of devices on the market that are supposed to help you to remove air, or otherwise store your wine after opened, I have found the least expensive and in fact the most effective means of storing opened wine to be keeping a few glass bottles with screw top lids around for this purpose.
Remember, the reason that wine begins to go bad when storing after opened is the oxidation that occurs once the bottle is open and the surface of the wine is able to come into contact with air. It is this continued contact with air that you want to try to prevent.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Unfinished bottle of wine
glass bottles with screw top lids, (smaller than a wine bottle). The bottles that serve a single serving of club soda or tonic water work great.

Step 1

If you know you do not plan to finish a bottle of wine, I suggest you remove the portion you do not intend to drink, rather than drinking first and then saving what is left over. The reason for this is that you want to be sure you have enough left to completely fill your glass reserve bottle.
Step 2

Depending on how much you want to save, immediately after opening the bottle, fill one or two of the reserve bottles all the way to the top with the wine you want to save and screw on the cap. That's it!
Step 3

You have now placed your wine in a container, with all of the air removed by the volume of wine. You can now save your wine in this way for at least a week. In fact, you may be able to save it longer than that, I've never made it any longer than a week however.:) Who goes more than a week without another glass of wine?

Tips & Warnings

Be sure you use only glass bottles. Plastic may leach chemicals into your wine that could change the flavor. Additionally, they are difficult to clean properly and do not provide as secure a seal. However, in an "emergency", you could use one a single time if you are only going to keep the wine say, overnight.
Be sure you thoroughly clean the bottles between uses. I just pop mine in the dishwasher. You want to be sure there is no bacteria in the bottle that could contaminate your wine.