Storing Opened Red Wine Without a Cork

Correctly treating wine ultimately leads to more thorough and delightful tasting experiences when testing out new and old brands of wine.

When you’ve opened a bottle, within the first couple of hours (wine mixing with oxygen), the aroma and taste of your wine can improve. Whereas, on the other hand, if you leave your opened bottle of wine out for too long - oxidation will cause the wine to lose its flavour, becoming dull and boring.

In this blog, we want to share how you can store your red wine without a cork correctly - to sap the most amount of time and flavour out of your wine as possible.

 

What Happens When Wine is Open?

Elaborating on the sentences above - there are a few reasons why your beverage will go bad after a while. Wines are meant to be stored for years and years (unopened) - but, when opened, there are certain things you need to consider when storing them.

So, how does wine go off when you leave your bottles lying around? The first way is due to the acetic acid bacteria consuming the alcohol in your wine. This essentially metabolises the alcohol into acetic acid and acetaldehyde. Therefore, if you notice your wine smelling sharp and almost vinegar-like, this is typically what is occurring.

However, not only will the acid bacteria consume the alcohol - but the wine can oxidise too. This will begin to make your wine taste like a more nutty, bruised fruit flavour - rather than the sweet-tasting beverage it should be. These are both chemical reactions that can occur when the wine is not stored properly and left open for too long. But, how do you store opened wine?

 

How to Store Opened Red Wine Without Cork

After reading many articles, looking at source after source and testing out theories to see what works best for your red wine when opened without its cork - we now have the best solutions for every wine enthusiast across the globe. These proven methods will enable you to make the most out of your opened red wine every time!

 

Seal and Store Your Wine

Using a wine preservation system (freestanding wine cooler, under-counter wine cooler, etc) will not only keep the flavours of your wine intact but make your wine last longer too (when opened). Once you know you’re finished with your bottle of wine for the night, using a small piece of plastic wrap to cover your bottle will prevent oxidation and acid bacteria from affecting your wine as frequently.

After you’ve secured your bottle with the plastic wrap, then you will need to secure it with a rubber band. Without a cork, this is the method you will be getting used to. Another possibility is using the wine stopper or screw cap that may have been provided with your bottle and re-sealing or screwing it back on - giving your wine maximum protection from potential internal damage.

 

Keep Your Wine in a Wine Cooler

Once you have used one of the above methods to ensure your wine is as protected as possible (right width away from each other), you will need to put it into a wine cooler or fridge. If you don’t have a wine cooler that you’ve invested in for long-term wine storage, fridges are the next best thing in this case.

Keeping your wine chilled and stored in this environment will slow down the chemical process responsible for the loss of the wine's flavour. Do keep in mind that storing your wine in a wine cooler or fridge will not stop it from losing its distinct flavour and aroma - it will only make the wine last a couple of days longer.

For example, even when stored properly - red wine will begin to fully lose its flavour and aromas after 5 days. Therefore, it is best to finish an opened bottle of wine within 2-3 days. Although you are told to store wine horizontally (which is the case for unopened wine bottles) - all of your opened wine should be stored vertically on the rack. This is due to the wine being exposed to more oxygen - which in this case is important for the few days it stays fresh!

 

Avoiding Heat and Light

Whether opened or unopened, keeping a wine bottle in high heat or direct sunlight is never a good idea. You must favour cool, dark areas or wine coolers/ fridges. Avoiding temperatures above 20°C and keeping the wine away from the window (where the sunlight would hit) is a must - due to the wine being discoloured from the sun.

A helpful tip for a wine enthusiast is - an hour before you serve your wine, it is best to place the bottle in lukewarm water or just lay it down somewhere outside your wine cooler (or fridge). If you’re a passionate wine lover and the art of investing in wine that can last a lifetime, then making sure you treat your wine in the correct way - whether open or closed is paramount.

 

Final Thoughts

Subsequently, if you’re trying to keep your wine in the best condition possible and you’ve been an avid collector of wine over the years - a wine cooler would be a great investment for keeping your wine as fresh as possible.

Wine coolers will not only keep your wine fresh and at the right temperature - but some wine coolers have dual-zone temperatures. This means that different wines can be stored at different temperatures within the storage unit. One wine will be more optimal at a certain temperature than another - therefore, a dual-zone allows for you to have both wines at optimal temperatures.

Using these features for opened wine will help you get the most out of your wine in a certain amount of days. Whereas, if it was without cool temperatures and low humidity - it would be damaged within the first day. Make sure you follow our steps and potentially look at a new way of storing your wine collection. This may be an option for all of you wine lovers in having the most luxury and tasteful drinking experience.