10 Ways To Avoid Wasting Leftover Wine

Thomas loved his wine, and the guests were no longer in the mood to finish the bottle. The half-empty bottle was not to be kept again in the wine fridge. The thought at the back of his mind haunted him. How could he throw away the precious nectar of the Gods that was prepared after years of storage in barrels? Would you consider throwing it away?

Helping people enjoy their favorite wine has been a primary goal of Rocky Mountain Barrel Company. This blog is for the people who have always wondered how they can store their wine bottle after opening it.

1. Don’t let it escape from the dark!

If you are a wine enthusiast and someone who loves to see movies where the actors come with the best-looking wine bottles, then you may have noticed the dim ambiance they use on the sets for keeping wine cabinets. It makes all the difference!

Oxidation is bad for wine. Keep your bottle at a place where it is safe from sunlight or natural light. These lights can build up heat inside the half-empty bottle and thereby speed up the oxidation process. To keep the wine in the bottle safe, make sure that the cabinet is at a place with dim and humid conditions. The sun emits harmful UV rays which are not only dangerous to humans, but also to wine.

**Hence, see to it that you install lightbulbs that don’t produce much heat in these rooms. LED lights are good for low heat**

2. See that it doesn’t lose its cool!

Always keep the bottle in a refrigerator when you are done drinking. The cool temperature inside will significantly slow down the oxidation process. A wine fridge is always a good option as you can store wine at the required and the most suitable temperature. Moreover, it is only designed for wine, so there will be no issues adjusting the temperature every now and then.

3. There’s still wine in it. recork-the-wine-right it right?

You close your laptop after using it, right? So why keep the wine bottle loosely corked or open after drinking it? We must try not to waste the efforts of the winemakers and the coopers who have toiled to manufacture the best white oak barrels to store and age the wine. It takes years of practice and patience before they can open up the lot to pour them into bottles.

Once you have finished drinking, close it correctly. Keep the cork safe while drinking and see that it does not fall on the ground. You may feel the need to close the bottle with the cleaner side of the cork, but avoid it! The stained side has been in the wine for a long time now, and it will be the saner option to close it the way it was earlier.

4. Take the extra air out!

There is still time to suck out the extra air if you have left the bottle exposed to air and it’s not been there for too long. You can use a vacuum pump. These vacuums can suck the air out of the bottle from the ullage.

There are many vacuums available in the market that include stoppers. The stopper can be inserted into the bottle before removing the oxygen. The process has to be carried out with utmost care.

5. Use small containers to store leftover wine!

At a house party or a wine tasting ceremony, it can occur that you are left with 4-5 half-empty bottles of wine. In a literal sense, this bottle is not half-empty, it is half-filled with oxygen. In this case, buy some small containers where you can store the leftover wine and hence remove the extra oxygen from the bottles.

You can easily get these kinds of containers in the market. Once you have bottled the wine in smaller containers, you can relax, as now there is almost no space for the oxygen to start its oxidation process. This is an inexpensive yet effective approach to store a half bottle of leftover wine.

6. Use inert gases as they are healthy

Inert gases are the ones that don’t react with wine, but they can definitely replace the oxygen in the bottle. Once you invest in an inert gas system, all you have to take care of is inserting the inert gas in the bottle and cork it up, thus preventing oxygen from entering the bottle.

This is like a protective layer and can easily escape when you open the bottle to drink a glass of wine the next time. Also, known as noble gases, you can easily find them in the market or online. The inert gas Argon is denser when compared to oxygen and creates a sheet that helps the wine by preventing air to come in contact. Hence the fear of any oxidation is eradicated, and you can enjoy your wine whenever you open it the next time.

7. Can’t find the cork? Buy a wine stopper!

Wine must always be stored well, and there is no excuse for not storing it well. Your determination to save the half-bottle of wine must be stronger than your excuses.

So, what if you accidentally lost the cork? You can go to a shop and get wine stoppers that will serve the same purpose as the cork. These plastic stoppers are preferred by many, as they feel the original cork is hard to put back again on the bottle. These stoppers are designed for sparkling wines, but using them on wine bottles does no harm to the wine inside.

8. You can also try shielding the wine inside the bottle

This is one more way to protect the wine left inside the bottle. These shields have to placed on the wine before closing the bottle. This is circular in shape and floats on the wine to keep it fresh for a couple of days.

There are air bubbles inside the disc which help it float on the surface of the wine. This can be a great tool for wine kept at the bars and restaurants as they have to serve wine more often and that too, by the glass.

9. Don’t fear to keep red wine in refrigerators

People at times fear keeping red wines in the refrigerator. The fear of red wine losing its taste is a concern.

Red wine can be refrigerated too, as this will help it coming in contact with oxygen. However, chilled red wine can be bad in taste for some, so allow the wine to settle at room temperature for a bit before serving it.

10. Drink it

Scientists, backed with their research, have said that having 3-4 glasses of wine in a day can be good for your health. So why open up the best bottle only to drink it halfway?

Here’s what you can do. Buy a fancy barrel from the barrels for sale shop and print the fact on it. Use this barrel as a table, or a decoration in the room, which Rocky Mountain Barrel Company always appreciates and encourages. To know about more ways to employ those barrels for sale, you can read 10 DIY Ideas to Use Bourbon Barrels for Home Decor.

Rocky Mountain Barrel Company is the best provider of used oak wine barrels. We provide the best service in North America and have expanded our services to multiple countries in recent years. We have a variety of barrels, some of which are newly introduced.

Come on in to our Wheat Ridge store. We love to meet our customers and will gladly let you in on the wide selection of our used bourbon barrels collection.