How to Keep White Wine

Always chill white wine before serving.

When you buy a bottle of white wine, or receive one as a gift, it is important to know how to keep the wine so that it produces the best, most intense flavors when you are ready to drink it. Storage techniques such as chilling preserve the freshness and crispness of a quality white. Make sure that you know about these techniques prior to hosting a dinner party so you can avoid any white wine blunders.

Things You'll Need

• White wine
• Decorative cork

Instructions

1. Store an unopened bottle of wine in a dark place that is slightly cool. Your kitchen pantry will do. This storage location is suitable if you do not intend to open the bottle for a week or longer. Or, if you have a temperature-controlled wine cooler, store your bottles of wine in there.

2. Position the bottle on its side to keep the cork moist. A dried-out cork affects the way the white wine tastes, and makes it difficult to get the cork out. If your cork is dry, pieces of it can flake off into the white wine, and you will need to use a strainer to get them out.

3. Put the bottle of white wine in the refrigerator or your wine cooler the day that you plan to drink it. The cooler the bottle of wine is when you drink it, the better. White wines, which contain more acids than red wines, are best served chilled or cold because it is more pleasurable to drink acidic beverages when they are cool, according to an article in "Food and Wine" magazine.

4. Store open wine bottles in the refrigerator. Do not put them back into the pantry, even if you do not plan to drink the remainder of the bottle for another week. Once a bottle is open, it needs to stay chilled to preserve the taste.

5. Stick the cork back into the bottle so it fits tightly. If the cork was damaged upon opening, use a decorative cork to seal the bottle.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have two half-full bottles of white wine left over from your dinner party, never combine the two. Doing so may give your wine a foul taste.

References

• "Food and Wine"; White Wine: Too Darn Cold?; Pete Wells