How long will red wine keep and should I refrigerate it to prolong it?
I just drove through Provence in France and bought a bottle of local red wine at a market in a village there.
How long will it keep and should I refrigerate it or just keep it in a dark cabinet??
People have said to put it in the refrigerator, but I have found that makes it taste different.
I do not want to consume it all at once.
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Tags: provence, red wine, Refrigerator
September 8th, 2011 at 9:49 am
What a nice way to remember such a beautiful trip!
If you plan on opening your red wine and enjoying it over a period of time, it’s best to keep it in the refrigerator. When a wine has been opened and gets warm, that is when it turns into vinegar.
Once you open your wine, you should consume it in a week for optimum flavor.
Most wine is made to be consumed within a year. Unfortunately, that’s all I can tell you about how long it will keep without knowing the wine maker, the type of red wine or the quality level. Provence makes red wines with Grenache and Syrah grapes. They are generally nice, fruity wines with well-balanced tannins. I don’t think you should keep it for more than 5 years. But just to be sure, perhaps you should do a quick Google search on the wine maker and find out what the suggested aging time is for your wine.
As for storage, you should keep it in a cool, dark space with a good amount of humidity. A basement is perfect. A refrigerator is a good alternative, but if you decide to keep this wine for an extended period of time, this is probably not the ideal for you.
Other alternatives include purchasing a wine refrigerator (this is great, especially if you decide to keep a number of wines), or renting space at a local wine cellar.
The most important thing to remember when storing your wine is to lay it on its side. This keeps the wine in contact with the cork, so that the cork does not dry out and let air in and spoil the wine.
Enjoy your wine!
September 8th, 2011 at 9:49 am
You could do either – but I would store it corked or sealed in a dark cabinet. The fridge is fine too.
September 8th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Red wine has various shelf life depending on the variety/vintage. As a good rule of thumb for what I would "general red wine" is about 10 years. You want to store it on the side in a constant temperature environment. Do you have a basement? Or maybe a closet?
BUT once you open it, you’ll need to drink it in 2-3 days otherwise it will go bad. Storing it in the fridge will let it stay fresher. You’ll get that third day out of it. Just take it out of the fridge for 40 min before serving.
September 8th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Hello! What i suggest is that you put your wine inside a chiller/cellar, with the proper temperature (reds: around 55F and whites around 50F, in my opinion). Keeping it in a dark cabinet can change the wine’s quality. A sudden or big change in temperature could ruin the wine, without proper temperature, your wine could age too fast. Humidity is another problem, especially if your wine is corked, it could make the cork dry or too wet and let oxygen through. Wine aging depends on the vintage and quality, i suggest to search the internet for a deeper information about your wine. I read somewhere that, $20USD below reds tend to be "ready to drink" no need to age. And those Above $20USD is usually stored to aged. But we cant rely on that information, so research on the wine:) Wine served at the wrong temperature, could make the wine taste dull. I, for one, drank red and white (too cold), so the taste isn’t that full. Serve reds at room temperature and whites around 10C. Once opened, you could store it for at a maximum of 3days (with proper storing conditions), after that, the wine will start to turn into vinegar.
September 8th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Good red wine will keep for years; the wine you bought is probably just a glugging wine and a few months is all you can expect to get.
I’d not store it in a fridge myself; storing it horizontally (to keep the cork moist) in a cellar is generally best.