How Long Can You Keep an Open Bottle of Wine?

Investing in a beautiful wine cellar isn't just about the pleasure of preserving your best cuvées in a beautiful storage space. In fact, storing wine in optimum conditions is vital to preserving its taste qualities. Once the bottle has been opened, the wine no longer benefits from an atmosphere that is conducive to preserving its qualities. A number of factors can alter the taste, aromas and structure of the wine, including heat and light. In addition, exposing wine to oxygen for too long encourages oxidation and transforms it into vinegar. A wine can improve in tasting after opening, thanks to light ventilation or decanting, but these actions must not detract from its original taste, or even make the wine undrinkable. But don't worry! It's perfectly possible to keep an open bottle of wine that you haven't finished. Logically, you should age it in the same way as a closed bottle.

Once opened, a bottle of wine can be kept for a relatively short time. If you taste the same bottle for several days in a row, you will notice that the aromas and taste of the nectar change over time. Oxidation may initially be beneficial, but over time it causes the wine to deteriorate. However, not all wines develop in the same way. Some deteriorate much more quickly than others. Generally speaking, darker wines keep much longer than lighter ones.

Once opened, a bottle of red wine does not keep for very long. Some red wines reveal their full aroma when opened before drinking or decanted. However, after a few days, the wine begins to oxidise and lose its liveliness. When the wine develops a slight vinegary aroma, this means that it has oxidised and is no longer drinkable. As mentioned above, the development of aromas varies from one wine to another. In the case of lighter red wines, the bottle can be kept for between one and three days. The same applies to wines made from Pinot Noir, which are particularly sensitive to exposure to air. Red wines with no added sulphur or organic ingredients are also more fragile. Full-bodied, more tannic red wines, on the other hand, have a solid structure. Once opened, they can be kept for four or five days.

Unlike red wine, full-bodied white wines will keep for less time than light white wines. Similarly, the sugar content of the wine affects how long the bottle can be kept. Full-bodied white wines that have been fermented and/or aged in oak barrels should generally be drunk within two or three days. These nectars often show less development of floral and fruity aromas. They tend to lose vivacity and freshness quickly. On the other hand, lighter white wines closed with a screw cap can withstand an extra one or two days' exposure to oxygen. While dry white wines should not be kept open for more than four or five days, sweet white wines with a high sugar content can be kept much longer. This is because the sugar in the nectar acts as a natural preservative, inhibiting the development of bacteria that can alter the aromas and taste of the wine. Kept in good conditions, sweet white wines can be drunk within a month of opening.

Restaurateurs and wine bar servers have no choice when it comes to this issue. If you want to keep a bottle of wine open for several weeks without affecting its quality, you can invest in professional systems. These tools have been specially designed for wine-by-the-glass dispensers and for keeping bottles open.

• Coravin: this ingenious system allows you to drink wine without opening the bottle. Developed in the United States, this tool is an original solution to the problem of storing opened bottles of wine. Like a syringe, a hollow needle pierces the cork to draw out the wine. As the nectar is extracted, the needle injects a neutral gas. Using this technique, you can extract wine for several months without affecting its quality. This method of preservation is particularly useful for preserving your grands crus.

• Vacu Vin: this tool is equipped with a small pump and a small rubber stopper. This system pumps the air out of the bottle to help preserve the wine. However, this operation can take up to 30 seconds. The air must be pumped out gently, as excessive pumping can damage the rubber valve. This tool can be used for keeping wine for two or three days, but is best suited to preserving more modest wines.

• PresorVac: it is particularly effective and easy to use, removing the oxygen contained in the bottle of wine by means of rotary pressure. This technique prevents oxidation of the wine and ensures better preservation. The PresorVac system can be used for white, red and sparkling wines.

• Advineo: this is a dispenser for red, white and sparkling wines. This device prevents the wine from oxidising, and allows wine bottles to be resealed using a vacuum conservation system after they have been opened to preserve them better. In the case of sparkling wines, you need to inject CO² into the bottle before resealing it to preserve the effervescence.

• Nitrogen systems: to keep your bottle of wine open for two to three weeks, these systems are recommended. How do they work? Quite simply, by replacing the wine with edible nitrogen each time it is drawn off. As it does not react with the wine, this inert gas creates a protective layer on the surface and prevents oxidation of the remaining nectar. Nitrogen systems also have the advantage of regulating the temperature of the wine in the bottle. Relatively expensive, these systems are generally used in restaurants or wine bars serving expensive, high-quality cuvées. Particularly effective, nitrogen systems are mainly used to preserve exceptional wines.