To those of you who consume bottles of red wine over several days

WINE TALK
1

Hi,

I keep open bottles of white wine, sweet and dry, in the fridge for days. Few seem to decline markedly.

As for red wines, anything left over is almost invariably consumed by the end of the next day.

I know that some people – ones who drink more moderately than me – taste open bottles of red wine over several days. For those of you who do this, if you were to make a generalization, does the wine generally benefit from this or, on the contrary, are the last glasses usually less good?
Or perhaps “as good, but in a different way”?

Alex R.

2

Alex - for me, sometimes reds are sometimes better the next day.

Rarely.

Usually they are worse. But I’ve kept some and, infrequently, they get better. It’s mostly the case for really young, super tannic wines.

Whites as a rule seem to survive better. I was just having this conversation with my wife two days ago. I generally don’t mind drinking a white that’s been opened, depending of course on the wine.

But why would anyone keep a wine open more than a day? After two days, I just open a new bottle and use the other stuff for cooking.

3

Pour half of the 0,75 bottle into a 0,375 as quick as possible, fill the small format to the very top of the neck and put the cork into it. The small amount of oxygen the wine gets this way does´t harm it too much. The half bottle will be fine for the next 2 or 3 days. That is my formula and it works. At least I can drink the wine in a good condition at two different days.

4

Same here but I tend to use screw cap bottles of 375 mls. and fill them to the brim.

5

Dear Alex,

Confess. Are your reds normally bordeaux ?

Cheers

Anthony.

6

You know, it really depends on the wine (I realize you do not like this answer). I nearly always keep wines over anywhere from 2-4 days, and don’t delude yourself, whites can degrade just as easily as the reds. I tend to move the undrunk wine into smaller bottles so less O contact. So what to say? Young reds, those with agressive tannins or screechy acidity, can actually be better the 2nd or 3rd day. Fainter wines like older Burgundies can lose aromas and delicate flavors but may take on something else the following days, sometimes the initial flavors get lost forever. Nebbiolo and aglianico wines can sometimes be better even into the 3rd or 4th night. It really depends. I’ve seen it all and I wouldn’t make generalizations, because wines I thought would survive didn’t and ones I thought had the stuffing to get better simply fall apart.

7

I’ve been recorking my reds and keeping them in the cooler at 58-60F, often for several days after opening.
The young Bordeaux still needs a couple hours of air to develop in most cases.
Some wines are obviously on decline after about a week.

8

My experience, Alex, is…it depends.
When I open a red wine, I’ll often stick a cork back in & leave it sitting on my counter for 1-2-5 days. And continue to sample it over that period.

My experience, for young wines, is that I very rarely find one that improves. Very rarely. As the volatiles escape into the headspace, they tend to
lose fruit. And the tannins come more to the forefront.

For older wines that are highly reduced, they are invaribly the poorer for it and usually are pretty shot by the next day. And if really old (15-20 yrs),
they’ll turn an ugly/murky brown.
Tom

9

Reds can go in the fridge too. Just let them sit in the glass a bit before drinking.

10

I’m not sure I’ve ever had a wine that was better on day 2+.

If I were to save it, I would put it in the fridge to slow down the reactions.

11

Very few reds I have had are better the next day. One exception that I had about a year ago was a 1994 Dominus. Very monolithic the night it was opened, it really gained in complexity the next day. But, in my experience, this is an exception.

Dry whites also tend to go downhill fast in my experience.

However, sweet whites can hold in the frig for a very long time and sometimes (esp. younger ones) will taste better a few days later. Even German Spatlesen and Auslesen can hold in the frig for a time.

12

Varies a lot for me. I often have a few bottles ‘on the go’. Some I drink pretty quickly, others I forget about. Some really do fall off a cliff. Others do well. I haven’t found any real formula for it. It’s all a learning experience for me. I don’t get too worked up over one day being better than the other. It’s all interesting. Most recently I had a biodynamic/no sulfur red wine in the fridge for about 3 weeks, about a 1/3 left. I just kinda forgot about it. Was going to dump it, but had a sniff and seemed fruity enough. Was fantastic. (Cellar Escoda-Sanahuja, Nas del Gegant '13 if you know it.)

There are no hard and fast rules. And it’s a consumable. Go, and consume…

13

My experience with Bordeaux is that the wines are often better the second day. Most recently, a 2000 du Tertre was unremarkable, but blossomed after about 48 hours. I think exposure to air can be a proxy for how the wine will develop with further age, and that these wines are not as fragile as people think they are.

14

I’ve absolutely had red wines either improve or at the very least not noticeably degrade by the next day (or several days later), but I don’t just put a cork in a partially filled bottle and hope for the best (Tom, ?); like Jürgen and Sanjay, I always decant into one or two smaller bottles and close with no air space and then keep those bottles cool. If it didn’t work well I wouldn’t have continued doing it for all these years.

15

Or put the glass in the microwave for 7 seconds and the wine returns to drinking temperature.

16

I’ll throw out a couple broad sweeping generalizations as IME every wine reacts differently. In CA Pinot the fruit tends to get darker, acid softer and VA kicks in to the point that I can’t drink it. Southern CA Syrah almost needs a day of oxygen to come alive, think Alban and a 24 hour decant. CA Chard does not hold up well for me as the delicate fruit and racy acid that I insist upon goes away quickly and the wines become too flabby. CA Zin holds up surprisingly well over a couple of days.

Very young CA Pinot and Chard (eg. 14 pinot and 15 chard now) will benefit and can taste better the next day depending on how much O2 is in the bottle.

17

No mention of Port yet? Vintage Ports often get better over the course of a few days in the fridge.

18

I do this as well, and put them back in the cellar. Even so, within a couple days they usually have not changed for the better.

19

I am someone who “consumes” most bottles over two days, and most often attempts to taste and “analyze” them the morning of the second day. For the wines I drink, the large majority of the wines, both red and white seem “better” on day 2, especially the white wines, which are more consistent. I suppose , to use the OP term, “they are better in a different way”…a more matured aspect, showing their age and potential better.

But, I can’t really generalize or extrapolate from my experiences , as there are too many variables with others’ wines: age, type, treatment after opening, attempts at “preserving” vs. just leaving the wine in bottle to develop.

I mainly consume red Burgs from 15-30 years old; white Burgs(including much Chablis) from 10-20+; Alsace whites at 10-15+ and Piemonte wines. If I have time with reds, I always clean them of sediment and openly aerate them or “double decant” them and put them back in the bottle…if I don’t have time to fully aerate or don’t think the wine would benefit. (I don’t “pop and pour” or “pop” and “slow ox”, as I think “slow ox” does nothing beyond “pop and pour”. I think pop and pour will give the wine the least shot at showing well on day 1…and the best shot at showing well on days thereafter.) I always openly aerate whites, as I think they can always benefit. (Though I don’t do much with Bordeaux these days, most I open are at least 20 years old; they are often better the next day, for me, too.)

The next day (or after), I am looking for a more harmonious wine, consistent with good aging. If that happens, with good fruit remaining, and a more expressive nose/palate…that’s “improvement” to me.

Usually day 2 is when they show best for me, though some whites are even better on day 3. (I’ve found reds usually are less good on day 3. )

Beyond this, there are too many variables and definitions/criteria to generalize, I think. But, I am not trying to preserve or protect (from oxygen) the wines the next day, but to see how they evolve. I equate that evolution with aging potential remaining. I also think most of the wines I drink have aging potential beyond what I had ever thought; I’ve almost never had a wine that I thought was “too old”. (The premox is a separate issue; they were too old way too early on.)

enuff rambling

20

I agree with GregT. It depends on the type and age of wine, but my experience is that reds are usually worse, very rarely better, after 24 hours. Although a recent 2007 Chappellet Signature Cab held up very well. Whites tend to survive better, up to a couple days, but rarely improve. I always put unfinished wine in the refrigerator, regardless of its color. Using 375ml also bottles helps to keep the wine a little longer.