Storing wine that has been opened

[bmiranda]

What's the best way of storing the following wines, once the bottle has been opened?

Cabernet Sauvignon
Merlot
White Zinfandel

[Bucko]

There are all kinds of gadgets on the market, none of which work very well except a protective nitrogen blanket, e.g. Private Preserve. Store in a cool place. The wines stay good for a week or so.

Another method is to fill a 375ml bottle to the brim, recork, and store in a cool place. This is good only for a few days.

Bucko

[tomstevenson]

This one comes up regularly and the best possible storage is to pour the wine into a small screw-top bottle and keep well-chilled in a refrigerator (I think that Randy - another member - and I will agree on that one!). If you're keeping a red wine, then bring it out of the refrigerator a couple of hours before you want to drink it and allow it to warm to room/serving temperature naturally and with the top screwed tight until you wish to drink. Alternatively, if you do not have the time, warm it up in a microwave (honestly, exciting the molecules by microwave bombardment is the gentlest way of increasing the temperature quickly). You'll have to get used to your own machine and its settings, but on my 650W microwave a 75cl bottle kept in my cellar at 12 Celsius takes 1 minute and 30 seconds at half-power to achieve ideal drinking temperature. Depending on how old the wine is when opened and how experienced a taster you are, wine kept in this way should last between a few days and a few months!

[opus1]

What makes wine go bad once it is open is oxygen and heat. Definitely keep it in the fridge, and a great trick to replace expensive "wine preserving gadgets" is to breathe (blow) into the bottle until you feel your breath come back at you. Of course we exhale carbon dioxide, which replaces the oxygen and thus slows spoilage. But the best trick is to drink it within a few days.