Say I want to save half a 750 of red wine to try on day 2. Should I pour off half a bottle into a split and put it in the fridge (which is essentially a decant) or should I just cork the half empty 750 and refrigerate it?
Does the decant undo the benefits of having a smaller surface area exposed to oxygen in the split?
Yes, purely hypothetical question I know. Who has any wine left over anyway?
What type of wine? Some can easily last day 2 and taste better while some more fragile ones might not. 95% of the time, I just cork the half empty. Or you can always coravin it!
Just slap a stopper on it and toss it in the fridge. It’ll be just fine.
Split = 187ml
Half = 375ml
I never even bother with the fridge. Just put a cork in it and set it on the counter. If I’m worried about it or think it won’t be drunk the next night I’ll put it in the cellar.
Beat me to it. Do they even make splits of anything other than Cook’s (or similar shampagne)?
Use a half. Put in fridge. Not sure the half is helping. Have more conviction in the fridge part of the strategy, just from my own observation.
For still wine, Barefoot and Woodbridge come to mind. They come in 4pk bottles, with screw caps.
Same. Actually I’m not sure what’s the issue with the fridge but the wine doesn’t seem to keep as well in the fridge than simply on the counter overnight.
To try to keep it as fresh as possible, then the 375, filled as full as possible.
Or, in other words, store it with as little air as possible.
I put a stopper in it and put it in the fridge. Sometimes i use a vacuvin which i bought a long time ago, to suck out air from the bottle, but i have not been able to prove to myself that it helps better than just the stopper
Half bottles are perfect.
I don’t enjoy oxidized wine
What they said, and I often decant into either one 500ml bottle or two 250s since I usually only have a single glass with dinner if I’m alone. Bottled with virtually no air space, and kept cool, the wine stays in fine condition for many days, in my experience.
Do both. I drink many bottles over the course of 4-5 days, and both the smaller bottle (poured to the top to eliminate all oxygen) and the refrigeration make a difference that especially shows on day 4 or 5. The oxidation from decanting to a smaller bottle is minimal in comparison to the oxidation from leaving wine in a half-empty bottle, even for 24 hours. You just have to get your wine back to proper serving temperature is all. For young, hardy wines that you’re saving for just one day, you may not really need the refrigeration part but it does make a difference to my palate.
Depends on the wine. A very delicate burgundy you probably want to minimize air contact with. A California cab…hell thatll sit on the counter for three days without blinking. Its what I usually do, as I drink very little Burgundy.
I keep on hand a 500ml and 375ml to pour off the wine to be saved. This approach has worked perfectly for me for years.
Going forward, I will use the Coravin. I have my reservations about bottles that I have tested after four weeks (I notice some degradation). Thus, I am only using the Coravin for stuff that I will ultimately kill within a few weeks.
Cooler temperature slows oxidation.
Depends on the wine.
The best result for me has been to just put the half-consumed bottle back in the wine cellar uncorked.
I routinely “pour off half a bottle into a split and put it in the fridge (which is essentially a decant)”. When I do this I put the 375 in the fridge before I sit down to taste.
What does “best result” mean, Keith? I find it hard to believe it’s not more oxidized sitting uncorked overnight whether cellared or atop the mantlepiece.
Do we not mean, “What method best arrests the evolution of the remaining wine?”