Since it is getting to be Port/sticky season, and having just acquired some vintage Port at auction, I was talking to a sommelier I know about how best to preserve these wines once opened. He said that one doesn’t really need to take any special measures, because these wines hold up for weeks without any additional stuff such as inert gas or whatever.
Curious as to the experience of Board members? Obviously want to enjoy the wine at its best, but don’t want to go to unnecessary expenses/effort.
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I agree with the somm, although only for Port. Other sweet wines don’t hold up as long, usually.
I know 30 days for port is fine. Haven’t tried longer as I don’t open much and when it’s opened, I get at most 10-14 days before it’s emptied, but from memory a few were at a month and didn’t budge.
I keep them stood/ stoppered in the fridge.
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Depends on tawny vs ruby. Tawny can last 6+ months open in the fridge (ive personally kept a bittle for 3 months). Vintage/ruby should be more similar to a normal bottle of wine.
I know a Guy who feels that Port, Rivisaltes and Banyuls doesn’t open up until a couple of months AFTER the bottle has been opened, and should be drunk over as many months as possible to receive the most from these wines.
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Tawny port - months. I personally feel that 30yo+ bottles tend to decline a bit after 4 weeks.
With vintage port there are so many factors like the vintage and producer. It really comes down to how quick we are going to consume it. 90s onward consumed over 3-5 days, fridge will be perfectly fine.
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Vintage Port, a few days for older ones. Maybe a week for young ones. Wood aged Ports go longer. A week or two. Botrytis wines maybe a couple days.
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I don’t completely agree with your somm friend. A tawny will hold up longer than a vintage Port IMO. I have an open bottle of a Rivesaltes in the fridge right now and after I finish my dinner I’m going to have some. It’s been two days. But to use Rivesaltes for an example, there are different styles of wine made there and they do not have the same shelf lives when opened.
For example, **Rivesaltes Ambré, and I think Rivesaltes Tuilé too, are both made oxidatively, so they will hold up a lot longer than say, Muscat de Rivesaltes, which is not made that way. I have a bottle of a Rivesaltes Hors d’Age that’s made with 70/30 Grenache Noir and Macabeu, that was then aged oxidatively. It can hang around for a while.
Similarly, Sherries that have been sweetened with a bit of PX are invariably oxidized and they will last for months, as will Madeiras. I’ve kept them open for almost a year and they were just fine.
Botrytis wine not so much. They really start to lose their personalities after being open too long - I only give them a few days although I can’t remember ever leaving one alone for more than 2-3 days. I can’t imagine one lasting in my house for a whole week.
Banyuls is similar to Port - some people say they last quite a while, but that’s not my experience.
Malaga is its own problem - there are two D.O.s - Malaga and Sierras de Malaga, and they make a variety of wines. The vinos de licor are usually naturally sweet and then they are fortified, but they are not always sweet - they can be semi sweet or dry and still be fortified. Those really don’t hold up, they’re like fino sherry and you would treat them like regular wines. There is another category that is made from super-ripe grapes and is not fortified, and some can age for a long time, and some are aged before hitting the market - Málaga Trasañejo means very old Malaga and I think it’s aged five years or something like that before release. Those are all over the map - you can kind of treat the unfortified ones like a vin santo and the fortified ones like Port, but then again they’re made from Pedro Ximenez or Muscat de Alexandria and PX as a grape is not particularly acidic. Honestly I don’t know how long I would keep one of those open, but I really don’t keep any wine open more than two or three days at most.
But there are some people who say that the sugar in a sweet wine acts as a preservative. That may be, but it doesn’t mean that there are no changes at all. What you often end up with is something syrupy, but not as delicious as it used to be, the exception being those wines that were deliberately oxidized.
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Pretty much agree with everything Greg said.
Oxidatively made wines hold up really well, at least as long as they’re kept in fridge / cellar temp. Because the wines have been subjected to oxidation during the winemaking, they aren’t bothered much by any additional oxygen. Many oxidatively made wines tend to keep just fine for months, Frasqueira Madeiras and older Tawnies (20-40 yo Tawnies and older Colheitas) even for years.
Conversely, wines that haven’t been subjected to much oxygen before tend to suffer badly with prolonged oxygen exposure. Older wines often do need some oxygen to open up and blow off any bottle funk, but once they’ve opened up, the don’t hold for a long time. Younger wines fare much better. An aged bottle of Vintage Port might start to deteriorate in just one day, whereas younger Rubies and LBVs can keep for a week, even several.
With other stickies it really depends on the style. Sauternes, Tokaji and other oak-aged wines tend to keep a bit better as they are subjected to some oxidation during the barrel aging, although often for not that long. Reductively made wines (typically most BAs, TBAs and Eisweinen) haven’t seen any oxygen before the bottle is opened, which is why they can lose their aromatics quite quickly after the bottle is opened - older ones often faster than younger ones. I wouldn’t keep these wines for much longer than a few days.
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I have about half a bottle (750) of old Cazes Rivesaltes in the fridge right now. It’s been open for two days; I think it would last a month easily.
(But it won’t) 
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3 weeks on a half of lfp 09 in the fridge.i think it is turing brown like a banana but still good
I’ve found early-mature vintage ports peak at days 2-3 and decline pretty clearly over the following week. While one opened for two weeks may still be enjoyable but will have lost a great deal of nuance and complexity. I’m talking room temperature storage as I haven’t tried refrigeration after opening. YMMV.
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Tawnies good for a couple of months. Young vintage ports and LBVs good for a week or two. Sauternes, kept in the fridge, good for a couple of weeks too (all the phenolics are oxidised out during winemaking so they don’t tend to oxidise - try it and see!). Old vintage ports - that’s where I’d take more care and try not to leave more than a few days. Madeira? Bomb proof. Good for a year??
I have a 1922 Madeira that we opened for my mother’s 85th Birthday. There is an ounce or so left at the bottom of the bottle. She would be 100 years old if she had lived this long. The wine is still outstanding.
I always decant vintage port. Strangely, if I decant a bottle the wine is good for a few days or, if youngish, maybe a week. If I decant only half the bottle and leave the rest on the sediment, a vacuvined or gassed bottle will last weeks and the second or third decant is almost as fresh as the first one. Madiera is ageless. Sauternes tend to decline after a day or two.
Sauternes dregs got a little old? Cork tightly and keep in the coldest part of the fridge. Add other “past it” sauternes and when you have a bottle or two, put the contents on a slow boil in an enamel pot until it forms a tawny syrup. Great on fruit or ice cream. Sometimes I augment with some citrus zest and a spoon of sugar to help things along. Or use to poach pears. A chef friend made granola out of Sauternes syrup and it was super. You too can have d’Yquem for breakfast.
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Yeah, when I buy one of those wines, first thing I do it pop it, then stand it up for a few years.
Joking aside, fortified wines do seem not to care that they’ve been opened….they persist like Mike the Chicken! (Worth Googling.)
Non-fortified, even in the fridge, much less.
As the resident sweet wine addict, I have found that provided I close the bottle well with a glass stopper or a winged metal Champagne bottle closure designed to preserve bubbles (they work on more than just Champagne bottles, you know 
) and not just shoving a cork back in and keep it in the fridge, I find that non-fortified sweet wines will usually hold up well for a week.
Using the same care with fortified wines, I find they last until I darn well and good finally get finished with the bottle. And if they’re done in an oxidative style, that can and has been for months on end sometimes.