How long can you keep a opened bottle of wine?

[Innkeeper]

Whether you are a new or experianced wine drinker, it is difficult to determine how long a wine will last after opening. This is because different brands of the same wine have different lasting qualities. Recommend you spend $12.95 or less at discounters, for Andrea Immer's "2004 Wine Buying Guide." She reviews 600 wines of every category that are widely availiable. Of particular interest to you is the feature where she assigns a "survivor" rating for each wine. This will tell you how long a once opened bottle will last in the fridge if white, and on the counter if red. She has merlots at the same price rated from "Average" (one-day wines) to "A" (3 - 4 day freshness window).