Industry Secrets: Preserving Red Wine by the Glass
Is there anything worse than getting to the end of the night in your busy restaurant and someone orders a glass of red wine from a bottle that you need to open.
“Great,” you think “this bottle will be off by tomorrow night.”
Alas, there is a way to preserve opened Red Wine that you probably haven’t been made aware of.
Firstly though, it’s important to understand why red wine goes bad. It’s oxygen that turns red wine into vinegar. Pinot Noirs and light coloured red varietals as well as organic and sulfite free wines are usually the most delicate when exposed to oxygen. The key is to reduce the amount of oxygen touching the surface when storing open bottles of red.
Here are a few tips!
- Re-cork or reseal the wine after every glass pour.
- Keep the open bottle out of the light
- At the end of the evening, keep the red wine in the refrigerator as the colder temperatures will slow the chemical process of oxidation down. Before service the next day, bring it back to room temperature (e.g. placing it in lukewarm water)
YES, you read that correctly. Store your RED Wine in the fridge and it will stay relatively fresh for around 3 days! - Invest in a vacuvin or other affordable wine preserver to keep your red wine fresh. These little contraptions take the oxygen out of the open bottle to preserve it longer!
These small tips and tricks can save you a LOT of money!
