I read that wine should be consumed at one time, because once it is exposed to oxygen it goes bad. But I have non-alcoholic Chardonney, and I have refridgerated it…does the same rule still apply?
It’s blasphemy, that’s what it is. 
Is this that American cooking wine I keep hearing about? With added salt? If so, IIRC it should stay “good” for months.
ETA: Just smell it. If it doesn’t smell rancid, taste it. If it doesn’t taste off, it’s probably OK.
Nope it’s non-alcoholic drinking alcohol.
“Bad” wine either turns to vinegar or gets moldy. Can you see any mold? Does it smell like vinegar?
Non-Alcoholic wine goes by a different name: Grape Juice.
And if you leave it out long enough, it may turn to wine. Bad wine.
Sniff it, and taste a few drops. If your mouth doesn’t pucker, go for it.
It’s probably fresh enough to use tonight, although why anyone would use non-alcoholic wine to cook with is puzzling. I find that wine is most useful for bringing out flavors, and it’s the alcohol that does that. Otherwise you are just cooking with grape juice.
The rule usually only applies if you’re planning on drinking the wine… and even then, wine is still perfectly drinkable for a day or two as far as the average person is concerned.
As far as the one-day rule goes, it usually applies only to serious wine afficionados. If you’re the type of person who’s trained their palate to detect the faintest nuances of flavour, or if you’ve found yourself engaging in a lively debate on whether the berry aroma in your glass of Malbec is more remniscent of cherry or mulberry, then the wine may taste a little “off” after a day or two… but then again, those types of wine drinkers wouldn’t touch non-alcoholic “Chardonney” with a ten-foot pole.
If you’re planning on cooking with it, then it’ll be fine for at least another couple of weeks - just sniff it to make sure it hasn’t turned on you (which might actually be a bigger risk with non-alcoholic wine)
What on earth is non-alcoholic wine? And why would you use it in cooking? I’m not a chemist, but the flavor imparted by wine, when cooking, I can’t separate that in my mind from the alcohol content. Does anyone know how non-alcoholic wine is made? If it’s real wine, that’s then denatured or whatever, if the process leaves behind whatever flavor you get from, uh, natured wine, then huh, I spose it would work.
Anyone know the chemistry involved?
Depends on how you store it, but if you close the bottle and store it in the fridge (and you can do this with red wine too) it should be OK for two days at least. Outside the fridge, I won’t count on much more than a day, unless you’ve got one of those rubber seals/pump thingies that suck out most of the air.
I’ve got a cheap stopper and I leave my wine out on the counter. I opened a bottle of moscato on Saturday night and I just finished off the last glassful now. Other than being noticeably more bitter than when I opened it, it was still pretty drinkable.
I’d guess it’d be fine for a week or two for cooking.
As for the process - it is regular wine with the alcohol removed. There are a couple of popular methods. Reverse Osmosis and Spinning Cone Column.
There are 2 companies in this area that provide these services. I’ve done sweet spot tastings at both of them. It’s pretty amazing how the alcohol content can affect the taste of a wine.
You can read more about the processes at their websites -
Non-alcoholic wine pretty much equals dreck in terms of flavor, IMO. I’ve never tasted one that I thought was even remotely good. If you have an alcohol problem and must drink it, then…well, OK, but it has been and will always be an inferior flavor product. Alcohol adds body and structure to wine.
That said, there’s a couple things to consider:
Alcohol acts as a preservative to a degree, so non-alcoholic wines will “turn” faster, particularly if the wine is also “dry” (absent residual sugars, ie, a noticeably sweet-ish wine, which also acts as a preservative).
Never, ever ever leave unfinished wine at room temp unless you plan on finishing it the next day. Refrigerate it otherwise. Oxygen immediately begins to act upon wine once the bottle has been opened.
Keep in mind that most wines, particularly mass-marketed ones, are meant to be drunk young (fresh). Very few wines improve with bottle ageing, and even those that do rapidly deteriorate once opened, particularly very old ones. Always look for the most recent vintage in cheaper wines, don’t buy the special Pinot Gris from Oregon that’s from 2006 that’s on sale at the grocery store…they are trying to move product that isn’t selling.
Anyway, if I were you, I would reduce that wine down to a syrup (what grape varietal is it, anyway?) by simmering it in a pot and drizzle it over a savory dish like duck breast, or even enhance sweet desserts like simple vanilla ice cream.
Just throw it out and get some regular wine.
Even the cheap stuff should be better than that.
RE: The complaints about using non-alcoholic wine in cooking.
Isn’t the alcohol supposed to cook completely out when you cook with wine?
Or am I remembering something wrong?
I used to be under that impression, but it’s not necessarily correct - it really depends on how much wine you use, how long you cook it and probably on the amount of other fluids that are cooking at the same time. I made a pot of fish soup once that called for 1.5 liters of white wine, and I can tell you the recipients were less than completely sober after consuming it.
AFAIK - and I’ve no experience that casts doubt on it - alcohol also helps dissolve and spread certain flavors that won’t get dissolved in water. Just like many dry spices will spread their flavor much better in fat than in water (one of the reasons lots of curry recipes require the majority of the spices to be fried with the union etc at the start of cooking instead of adding them after the other fluids/wet vegetables are added).
Well. Fuck. I just looked up beer battered foods, and found out they don’t get rid of the alcohol either. I’m on benzodiazepine withdrawal, and even a drop of alcohol can make the torture last longer. I sat at a restaurant eating those beer-battered onion rings, thinking they were the greatest thing ever. Because I was assured that the alcohol got cooked out.
I’m going to use a word I never thought I’d use: Fuck those CUNTS who lied to me about this shit if they added even half a second to my agony. And I’m only using that word because the words I want to use are flatout verboten here.
I thought we only said the alcohol cooks out so people would consume… uhm… never mind. Sorry to hear about your agony BigT.
Since this thread blew my mind too, I looked up non-alcoholic wine and for one producter’s page I read, they make regular wine and remove nearly all of the alcohol by a cold filtration process. They say it tastes just the same.
It doesn’t.
I doubt they were trying to mislead you, it’s a common misconception. Sorry about your troubles, I hope the food doesn’t make things worse for you.