How Long Does Wine Keep After It's Been Opened?

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed)
Oct 30th 2009 at 7:01PM

It's a question that's been tossed around for centuries, since the first cork was popped: How long does wine keep once it's been opened?

As with all things wine, it depends on many factors. Red wine, white wine, young wine, old wine, the list goes on. Oxidation is both a friend and an enemy. A freshly opened bottle often benefits from sitting open for a few minutes before serving in order to allow the oxygen to seep in and bring out the flavors and aromas in their full-bodied glory, but too much time exposed to the air and all those wonderful characteristics start to slowly turn unpleasant and eventually the wine will be dull, sour, and not nearly as fragrant. It's a slow process and it really comes down to personal taste, because no matter how long an opened bottle sits it won't become unsafe to drink -- just unpleasant.

The quick, very general answer on how long an opened bottle of wine keeps is 3 days. All wines will keep at least one day without changing for the worst, and many aged reds can last up to a week. Factors to keep in mind:

The age of the wine The longer the wine was aged the longer it will retain its desirable characteristics after being opened. Young wine is more susceptible to the effects of oxidation.
How much is left The fuller the bottle the longer the wine will last, due to less room for oxygen. Consider transferring leftovers into a smaller bottle
Sugar and alcohol content Sugar and alcohol act as preservatives so dessert wines, ports, and sherries can keep much longer (up to a year in some cases).

When it doubt smell it and taste it. If you like it drink it! If you don't, either discard it or find another use for it. There are no hard and fast rules so make your own.

Tags: main-pedia, wine, wine bottles, wine storage, wine tasting, wine-pedia, WineBottles, WineStorage, WineTasting

Filed under: Wine

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

bill Oct 30th 2009 7:48PM

Aged wines do not last longer when opened than young wines. You have it completely backwards. The older a wine is the less time it will retain its character when opened. Some very old wines need to be drunk in the first hour they are opened!!!

Please make sure you change this as the information you have posted is completely incorrect!

Cellarmaster Oct 30th 2009 11:29PM

Bill is 100% correct. The short answer to why is that tannic acid chains in older red wines have had years to break down(that is part of what becomes sediment). The reason we age wines is so that the young tannins that make a wine so harsh and"too young" can mellow. Older wines have LESS of a shelf life because they have less acids to maintain the structure of the wines hence they oxidize faster. The young wines have more than enough acids to keep the wine drinkable for days. That is not to say that you should keep your bottle of cab open for a week and think it will be the same beautiful wine it was when you opened it. Many restaurants employ inert gases, wine keeper systems etc to prolong BTG shelf life. Most of the MS(Court of Master Sommeliers-I waiting to test for my Level 3 advanced this coming year and have been a pro wine buyer for almost ten years) will tell you not decant wines over 20 years or so. Reidel has smaller sommelier series bordeaux glasses specifically for vintage bordeaux for this very reason. With many of the older wines they might have an hour before they fade off and "die". I've had many wines from the 50's -70's that this is true for.

The same rule applies to vintage white and champagne. The higher the acidity level the longer they will last once opened. The high acidity of Grand cru Burgundies and other famous whites are what allow them to age, and also what can make many of them "a little dry" to consume young.

Ultimately it is completely about taste. I tell my guests that wines are like left overs. They may still be good the next day but they will never be as good as they were fresh out of the kitchen and you should drank and eat them fast.

Cellarmaster Oct 30th 2009 11:31PM

Sorry bout the typos btw, I typed that out way too fast...the message is clear enough.

Keith Oct 31st 2009 9:30AM

Thank you all for sharing your information about wines. I am not a wine drinker, but some of my relatives and friends are. It is refreshing to hear about wines, how long they last once opened.You had mentioned older wines losing more acidic in them, does that make it less stronger in taste? Thank you again for sharing your knowledge.

empirehvac Nov 6th 2009 10:09AM

You have any bottle of wine last more than week by adding a vacuum seal to it. These are very cheap. It is simply a plug in the top of the bottle and you attach a small hand held vacuum bottle. Once the wine is pumped down it will last without any isses for at least a week, red or white.

Marilyn Nov 6th 2009 3:49PM

What a lot of effort. Stay sober. Drink water.

mrsmap25 Nov 6th 2009 5:44PM

I Just freez my left over in a wine glass,drink it next day,very good.

barry.rees Nov 16th 2009 3:38PM

After being served many glasses of partially or sometimes totally oxidised wines by staff who receive little training from their employers about wine, I did something about it and created the Wine Preserva. There is a free white paper download on the website (www.winepreserva.com) which is easy to read.
We recommend customers put the disk into the bottle as soon as the first 2 glasses are poured, for best effect - we get up to 5 days with the same taste and aroma as a freshly opened bottle.
It's critical to apply the disk to aged wines within a short period after an aged wine is opened - let it breathe and then apply the disk. As Bill said, some 'collapse' within the hour,
Cheers