How to Store an Open Bottle of Wine

Wine leftover at the end of the night? Sure, it might not happen too often, but when it does, what's the best way to keep that wine fresh? There's only a few rules to play by here, and for those holding onto hope, sadly putting a spoon into the top of the bottle isn't one of them. The main things are basically closing the bottle tightly and temperature.

You're basically wanting to close the bottle as tightly as possible. Oxygen is the enemy of your delicious wine, and will turn it into vinegar if it gets the chance. So either push a cork firmly back into the top of the bottle, or if you're drinking sparkling wine, use a special champagne stopper to create a seal around the top of the bottle.

The second factor is temperature. The warmer it is, the faster the wine will degrade and turn into something you don't want to drink. To counteract this, pop the bottle into the fridge (standing upright) until the following day when you plan to drink it. Do this even if its red wine, and just let the bottle come back to temperature the following day before drinking. Obviously a combination of these two is the best approach, but it should be noted this doesn't buy you weeks more of drinking. A few days, probably 4 or 5 at most for regular wines, and 2 or 3 for sparkling wines is a good guide.