Although the answer to the question “how long does wine last in the fridge?” may seem quite clear, there are a few factors you should know. These are a bit more particular, but they are equally crucial to understand if you want to keep your wine correctly.
How Long does Wine Last in the Fridge?
Depending on how light or heavy it is, a wine’s shelf life is generally between three and five days after opening.
Rosé and light white wines: When corked, rosé and light white wines like sweet Riesling, Pinot Grigio, and Sauvignon Blanc keep well in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. These wines can be enjoyed for up to a week, but the fruitiness may start to fade sooner.
White Wines
Typically, white wines last two to three days in the fridge. However, this can vary depending on the type of wine. For example, full-bodied whites will oxidize faster than light or medium-bodied wines.
The best storage for whites is in a cool, dark place. This keeps your wine from getting exposed to direct sunlight. If you have the space, you might consider storing your wine in a basement or interior closet.
Alternatively, you can try a wine cooler. These are specifically designed to keep your wine at a certain temperature. When it’s cold, your wine will slow down the aging process and preserve the taste.
Whites that have been properly sealed will remain drinkable for a week after opening. You can also try a vacuum cap stopper.
Another way to extend the life of your white wine is to store it in a wine cooler. Wine coolers are designed to hold the right temperatures to prevent oxidation and other damage.
Red Wines
Red wines last slightly longer in the fridge than in your average bottle. Some can last up to six months if stored correctly. However, there are some things you should keep in mind.
First, the temperature and humidity of the place where you store your wine are important. A colder, darker space will slow the oxidation process and prevent the wines from smelling too harshly. You should also avoid constant micro-vibrations. These can ruin the integrity of your wine.
Also, the cork needs to be kept moist. A good way to do this is to lay the bottles flat. This will prevent the pin from cracking.
While red wines should be stored in a dark, cool, and humid place, they do not have to be refrigerated. They last longer than light reds. n the other hand, full-bodied whites need to be corked and stored in a refrigerator.
The main advantage of storing reds in a refrigerator is that it helps slow oxidation. Oxidation will cause the acids and tannins to break down faster.
Fortified Wines
The best way to store fortified wines is in a wine cellar. This allows the wine to stay cool, dark, and dry. It also helps to keep the sediment from settling on the bottom of the bottle. Depending on the type of fortified wine, it can last from several weeks to a few months.
Most white wines can keep for up to five days after they are opened. Lighter reds and dessert wines can last a little longer. Once open, most fortified wines will degrade slightly. Depending on the style of the wine, it might even start to lose its fruit notes.
Port is made from distilled alcohol and grape brandy. The higher the sugar content in the wine, the more shelf life it has. Typically, Port has around 20 percent alcohol by volume.
The best way to store fortified wines, like Port, is to put them in a refrigerator. The Port can be stored for up to three months once opened.
Whiсh Wine should be Stored in the Fridge?
White and sparkling wine should be kept in the refrigerator since they are sensitive to light and heat.
Red wine should never be chilled, but after it has been opened, you can store it in the refrigerator. Any wine should not be kept at temperatures higher than 55 degrees. Fahrenheit or less than 40 degrees.
Stоring Unopened Wine
When you refrigerate a closed bottle of wine, you stop the proper aging process from occurring. Place white wine that has not been opened in the refrigerator to chill it before serving.
Red wine should never be kept in the refrigerator because it is often served at room temperature.
Wine should be stored sideways to prevent air from entering the bottle through the cork and keep the wine out of the bottle.
To preserve the wine’s natural state, you should typically keep unopened red or white wine at a temperature of no more than 58 degrees and away from light, vibrations, and odors.
Stоring Oреnеd Bottle of Wine
Use the three-day rule when drinking open, dry white wine. Wine degrades once exposed to air, like milk and fruit, typically after three days.
Although wine stopper inserts that remove air from the bottle are available for purchase, you are better off drinking the wine within the next few days of opening it. The moment the cork is removed, oxidation starts.
Some wines get better after exposure to air, but after a day or two, they start to fade and lose their freshness. Wines with a higher acid content, like crisp whites or dessert wines, keep better for a few days. Once they have been opened, both red and white wines benefit from refrigerator storage.
Maintain a constant refrigerator temperature of around 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the wine bottle in the same manner as your unopened bottle by following my advice for red wine storage temperature—store wine in a dark, dry place away from light, vibration, and odors. Tightly jam the cork into the top of the bottle.
Why does Wine Go Bad?
There are numerous reasons why wine can become stale. Poor bottling, microbiological contamination, and storage issues are just the beginning. Each of these problems has distinctive symptoms to watch for, making it simpler to distinguish between a wine that has gone bad and a wine that is not to your taste.
Signs of Bad Wine
- Smells like a barnyard, a sweet horse, Band-Aids, or nursing: Brettanomyces, also known as “Brett,” is a bacteria that, in small doses, is not necessarily unpleasant. Unchecked wine becomes unfit for consumption.
- Tastes like sauerkraut: This nose-wrinkling flavor comes from lactic acid bacteria that have gone wild.
- Possesses a strong vinegar quality: This smell is that of acetic acid and volatile acid, which typically develops in the wine after exposure to oxygen. However, erratic yeasts might cause this flaw in the winery.
- TCA supports 2,4,6. It has a damp base, moldy cardboard, or a wet dog smell: a sign of TCA contamination, sometimes known as “cork taint.” Trichorolone, a harmful, potentially explosive compound that most frequently develops when chlorine-based cleaners come into contact with wood, can impact how a wine smells and tastes, even in minute quantities (such as parts per trillion). The entire batch of wine may be harmed if it is presented in a barrel or other winery accessory, proving that the cork is not always to blame.
- Wines that received too little oxygen during the winemaking process may develop volatile sulfur compounds, such as “mercaptans,” which have a rotten egg, onion, or bag aroma. Wines are said to have been “reduced,” which means they were fermented without enough oxygen.
- Fort There is no mistaking this law, even if you have never tasted a rotten egg. innately, this flaw frequently disappears shortly after the wine is opened. If it doesn’t, you can add something coarser to your glass (such as a pre-1982 penny), which reacts with sulfur compounds and magically removes the stinky smell.
- Tastes like chemistry: A weak formulation can release a potent paint thinner or an acetone scene. Sadly, nothing can improve the flavor of wine with this flaw.
- Oxidation occurs in all opened wine inevitably. It looks drab and brown; it smells bitter, nutty, or like balsamic vinegar. If you notice these symptoms, the wine you are drinking is likely oxidized and came from a bad closure. It was ruined by oxygen, which crept in.
- The appearance of foam or bubbles in a still wine: Whoops, your wine has started to transform. Someone bottled a wine without sterilization, and the yeasts started eating the remaining sugar.
- You can see the cork. Wine is leaking from the wine bottle rim or is visible on the pin: This is a sign of heat damage in older wines. The smells and flavors of heat damage are frequently subtle, giving the wine a duller appearance and taste than it should. Wine can be harmed in just one day of sitting in a warm delivery truck, even if there is no visible evidence of the damage.
One common reason wine goes bad is that no one drank it quickly enough after it was opened. (This is not typically a problem in or around my home, true.)
That’s because the moment you remove the cork from a bottle of wine, powerful chemical changes begin to take place in the wine.
Oxygen enters and sulfur dioxide, added to nearly all wines as a preservative, dissipates into the atmosphere. Exposure to oxygen can make a wine taste more harmonious and expressive in time-restricted doses by bringing out its flavors and boosting its volume.
However, the clock is ticking. Oxidation can spoil wine in as little as two days; eventually, this process will transform it into vinegar. The fruity aromas disappear first, and then the flavor becomes flat and bland with a sharp or bitter edge and the color changes. Red wine gets lighter and brawnier, while white wine darkens and becomes darker.
A wine that formerly smelled like apples or desserts may eventually begin to smell like vegetables or cider. You may be wondering how to extend the opened bottles’ shelf life now that you know how oxidation affects your bottles.
Conclusion
Wine has a shelf life just like any other food or beverage does.
Drinking wine soon after buying it is the greatest way to enjoy it fresh.
However, leftover wine can often be consumed 1–5 days after it has been opened, depending on the type of wine, whereas unopened wine can generally be enjoyed 1–5 years beyond its expiration date.
By storing your wine properly, you can also prolong its freshness.
When you next have leftover or old wine in your kitchen, be sure it hasn’t gone bad before you drink it or toss it out.
