Storage of opened red wine.

[dchen]

I am certainly aware that an opened bottle of red wine has a very limited age as far as drinkability. However, in my household I am the only one who likes red wine and I do not generally want a whole bottle to myself. What wines will hold up another day or two and how is the best way to store them? Are these vacuum pumps with the bottle seals helpful? Is it best to store it chilled for a day or two? Thanks for your help.

[hotwine]

This is a subject that's been kicked around quite a bit on this board. I now use Vacuvin to plug the bottle with a rubber stopper, then refrigerate until the next day. That works to at least some extent with most red wines, and some whites. But I still encounter some reds that simply fall apart overnight, with Domaine Gautier Fitou being the most recent example. And Vacuvin only works for about 24 hours. To go longer, you'll need to replace the oxygen in the bottle with nitrogen. Do a search for the last year on nitrogen, and you'll probably turn up the thread that discussed that process.

[hotwine]

Looks like that discussion was in 1999 under Paraphernalia.