5 Ways to Preserve Open Wine

5 ways to preserve open wine

For every wine drinker, it is a must to know how long an opened wine stays good, as well as to know how to keep them properly. In next few lines we are going to explain both.

How long does a wine stay good after opening?

It mainly depends on type of wine, way it has been produced, region it belongs to etc. But taking all these things in consideration 95% of wine is good for three days.

When you open a wine bottle, the oxygen in the air starts to soften the flavors as well as release the aromas of the wine. This process of oxidation last over hours and days and makes the wine ultimately undrinkable. It is like milk which goes bad and stale slowly. Most wine drinkers think that wine can be used only once and will have to throw it away if remained unused, but it’s not so.

There are various ways to stop the oxygen from entering the bottles. So here we come to how to preserve opened wine.

There are number of ways to do so, here is a small list:

Refrigerate re-corked bottles. It is the simplest way to preserve a wine. All types of wine will have a slower oxidization process when they get colder. You can take out the bottle just an hour or so before serving, as it needs to come to room temperature. Refrigeration also affects spoilage-causing bacteria, so wine will not get a stale taste.
One can move the wine from the bottle to a smaller bottle and then re-cork it. It will make the wine have less contact with the oxygen.
Use stoppers and pumps to draw out air from the bottle. It will make an air tight seal to keep the wine fresh for days. The wine pump has two parts:

A rubber stopper to plug up the neck of the wine bottle.
A pump that sucks the air out of the bottle.

One can use a container of preservative gas, for example nitrogen gas. It will stay in the bottle and will not flow out as nitrogen is heavier than oxygen. Put a layer of preservative gas in the bottle and quickly re-cork it.
Some wine like champagne is retained in different way. For this one use a spring-loaded champagne cork. It is a small device with metal cap along with two swinging arms and a spring-loaded rubber cork that fits easily inside the neck of the bottle.