I was recently at a large charity event where, at the end of the night, a number of bottles of white wines were sitting untouched on ice, and the guy running the event was giving away the bottles to volunteers. The bottles had been opened, then immediately recorked (to facilitate quick service when needed), but the bottles being given away were totally filled. Assuming these went into the home fridge, how long would you keep them with any reasonable hope that they’d be worth serving?
If you’re thinking about days or a few weeks in the fridge, I wouldn’t be worried.
Left upright with no pours made, assuming it’s a young wine I wouldn’t worry about keeping it for months, years even.
I would think it will be good for a while in the fridge. I doubt years, but it depends on what the wine was. It still got some air in it. I would plan on drinking it within a few weeks if it was me.
Do an experiment and get back to us. I have had whites that are still drinking well a week later however anything cheaper a few days.
+1
In the late 90s, some friends were given a bunch of 1985 Bordeauxs that had had their corks pulled and reinserted for a pre-auction lunch, where they were not needed. I was served them many weeks later and they were fabulous. I don’t believe those were refrigerated and the wines were already 10 years old.
With a delicate old wine teetering on the edge, I’d want to drink it ASAP. But if the white is refrigerated, I think you’d be fine for at least a couple of weeks.
I had an experience like that with some Phelps Vin de Mistral from a relatively recent vintage (at the time). Opened, then recorked. I tried some as much as a year later and they were fine. Not refrigerated, but kept cool. I was surprised by how well they lasted.
depends on the wine. Whites should go longer.
I have often left JJ Prum opened in the fridge for a week or more. And it has never shown any deterioration.
One extreme example was a bottle of Andre Perret Condrieu that I took home with most of the bottle consumed after an offline. Bottle was brought home in a wine bag which I left in the garage by mistake rather than the fridge. It was summer and the wine was exposed to extreme temperature for a month until I opened the wine bag for carrying the next offline wines.
The bottle of Andre Perret Condrieu was taken masked and served blind to all the attendees ( couple of glasses shared by all). They were amazed by its freshness and it looked even better than when first opened a month ago. Go figure.
I know that the above is hardly a sample size to base any future decisions but it still fascinates me and my wine group.
depends on the age of the white- probably would just drink them up over the next few weeks. If you keep them colder ( real refrigerator vs wine fridge , and they’re very young ) they might last months.
What about refurbished bottles from domaines. Isn’t it common to take older bottles, top them off, put in new corks, and send them off? I’ve got some '93 Albert Morots which I’m pretty sure represent this. And wasn’t there a thread about some dude recorking old wines recently, YouTube linked video? Seems this would be no different.
When I open wines to taste, I generally move them from a staging table to my desk, then rotate them to a finished table opposite. Once that table gets full of about 30 wines, I will dump and recycle the bottles. It isn’t uncommon that a white wine that has been opened for a week or longer (corks out) shows very little deterioration. Example is a 2012 Failla Chardonnay Chuy opened the week before thanksgiving that I am tasting right now. It has sat with no cork, un-refrigerated with level about an inch below the shoulder and still tastes as sleek as when first opened.