I often avoid recipes that call for wine. Mainly because I don’t want to buy a bottle of wine, use just a smidge of it, and then have the rest of the bottle sit on my shelf until it eventually goes bad.
Is there a secret to keeping wine good (or at least good enough to cook with) after it’s been opened?
Cooking wine lasts longer because it has preservatives. Some people denigrate it. Fortified wines last longer. Here no alcohol goes bad, except vermouth, which migrates to the back of the fridge and stays way past when it’s welcome. I get the idea I’d like to try a martini and then get sick of it.
You should probably refrigerate it though. Salt is one thing that’s in cooking wine but I don’t know if I’d recommend salting other wine.
I just buy cooking wine, and I know that cooking snobs look down on it, but I honestly don’t know enough wine varieties to pick one that would compliment the dish I’m making and recipes almost never specify beyond “white” or “red” anyway.
This doesn’t answer your question directly, but to avoid large amounts of wastage I avoid buying whole bottles of wine for cooking, and instead buy the miniature 18.7cl (roughly 6.5 fl oz) miniature bottles.
Undoubtedly this is less economical on a pure £/cl basis, but as far less gets wasted I’m sure it evens out.
Of course I don’t know if these are available in the US but they might be worth looking out for.
I was going to suggest the same. OP, they are like the mini bottles you get on planes. We can buy them in supermarkets here and I highly doubt the UK has cornered the market. (link to Tesco website to show the OP what we mean).
An opened bottle of red porto wine lasts for months.
They have small bottles. I don’t know how big, but IIRC they come in either 4 or 6 packs, and say it equals one bottle (750mL / 4 = 187.5 mL or 18.7cL). These tend to be brands at the upper part of cheap wine, $8-10 for the bottle maybe (although the 4 packs probably cost more per mL). I want to say Coastal Ridge makes one, google seems to think so.
Port I think might be a bit strong for some recipes (or at least better for red wine recipes), but yes it lasts forever.
You can freeze it. It doesn’t go solid but ends up like a slushy. Little plastic sauce containers are good or little ziplock bags. Or just use fortified wines like dry white vermouth or medium-dry sherry. For red wine you can use port, red vermouth, marsala or madiera.
Mini-bottles. My local grocery store has 4-packs of chard, cab, merlot and sauvblanc on the shelf near the jug wine. Sutter Home has good stuff.
I keep Port, Rhine, and Madeira in the fridge most of the time. I buy the smallest bottles, and they stay around in the bottom shelf of the fridge door forever. I did recently buy Marsala by accident, and it lost flavor pretty quickly.
I use the extra-sticky Glad wrap to seal the tops of the bottles.
Like others said, get the little bottles that cost about $2 when you need something. I usually either do that or if I need more then that or just want to keep something on hand I buy the cheapest wine I can find. It’s usually $3-$4. Keep a chard and a merlot in the pantry and I’m good to go. When it’s that cheap, I can use a cup or two and toss the rest down the drain since I’m not likely to use it again anytime soon.
Buy the little bottles! There are also mini-boxes for sale. Which hold a bit more but stay fresh longer in the refrigerator.
I checked on the way to work this morning - they also have pinot grigio, muscato and white zin in mini-bottles.
I came in to mention the mini-bottles. I see I’m the first.
You should get the little bottles!!
ETA, or just get the little bottles.
They often will say on the label what foods you should pair them with. I once found a merlot that said it was good with “mac and cheese or weeknight dinners” which I think is hilarious.
As am I. Mini bottles.
My local grocery store occasionally sells them loose in a big bin for $1 each- I think they’re a mix of Beringer, Sutter Home and Gallo, and they usually have the vareties that silenus mentions. plus some sweeter ones like Moscato and white zinfandel.
Have you ever considered becoming a wine drinker? 