We’re not oenophiles. Or wine afficionados. We drink it and serve it occasionally when we have company. My wife drinks a glass or two every evening after work, and she has her preferred wines. But over the years, we’ve accumulated many bottles of wine we will never drink. They’re not fine wines. Some got into the house by way of the guest bringing the obligitory bottle. There is a bottle of white zinfandel, for example. Not going to drink it. An old bottle of average quality champagne. An old bottle of Gewurtztraminer. That kind of thing. We can’t in good conscience give the wine to any friends. We can’t donate it, along with our old clothing, to the Salvation Army. Does anyone have a good idea of how we can get rid of it, short of just throwing it in the garbage?
Well, where do you live? Perhaps some Dopers could take it off your hands.
Failing that, put it up for free or even a small fee on Craigslist.
Have you thought about using some of it for cooking? My family recipe for lasagne calls for a cup or two of red wine, and I’m sure white wine would work in quite a few dishes.
Go to a bar and ask patrons if they would like some wine to take home.
Coq au vin is delicious, not terribly difficult, and uses one standard-size bottle of (traditionally red, but why not white too?) wine to serve four people.
Old inexpensive red wine, or any old white wine, won’t be very good. All wines do not improve with age, most don’t. You may have a lot of bottles of vinegar.
Old, over-the-hill wine makes a good drain cleaner. Other than that…make vinegar.
Most colleges and universities have research labs that will gladly accept donated wines of any label and vintage. These buildings are easily identified by the seemingly random selection of Greek letters above the main entrance. Many are willing to pay as much as $1 per bottle for the inconvenience of your having to deliver it.
In the spring use it on the lawn to help break down thatch in the lawn. Beer is what people normaly use, but wine should work too.
Bad wine can sometimes become fine vinegar. See if you can get a vinegar mother from a health food shop. Then, it’s simply a matter of occasionally topping it off and siphoning it off. Home made wine vinegar makes an excellent gift since it keeps indefinately without elaborate steralisation methods. And if a batch turns out to be not so hot, then you can throw it away without guilt since the wine was going to be wasted anyway.
- Pull the corks and pour it in the potty.
- Pack it in a crate, nailed tight, with sign reading “All or nothing,”
- Surely there is an area in town where the inhabitants will welcome a bottle or twol
- Set them up on fence posts and have target practice.
Do you have a wine rack/liquor cabinet. We have alot of wine that we’ll never drink, so I just use it as a filler when there’s an empty space, especially if it has a nice label, or it’s an obscure brand.