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How long does wine keep?
Can I keep my half-empty bottle of wine? If so, where should I store it and how long will it last?
As a general rule, red wine will last longer than white, simply because it oxidises (ie. the wine, on contacting oxygen, deteriorates in both aroma and flavour) at a slower rate. The more wine in the bottle, the longer it will last because there’ll be less empty space and, therefore, potential oxygen. So, if you have less than half a bottle of wine left, it’s a good idea to decant it to a smaller bottle (small Schweppes bottles are ideal). Keeping wine in the fridge (red or white) will also slow down oxidation.
The more full-bodied the wine (red or white), the longer it will last. Anything light, elegant and delicate – for example, red wines made from the deliciously sexy Pinot Noir grape of red Burgundy fame – are hardly worth keeping as they deteriorate so fast. Drink them in one go and enjoy them.
You can keep a medium- to full-bodied white, such as Australian and Californian oak-aged Chardonnay and Australian Semillon, for two to three days in the fridge before the wine totally oxidises, and a medium to full-bodied red like an Australian Shiraz or Australian and Californian Cabernets, for a maximum of four days.
You can buy purpose-made, inexpensive, stoppers called ‘corkies’ which, in effect, are a plastic stopper with a little lever on the side. I usually just put the cork back into the wine upside down.
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