How long does an open bottle of wine last before it goes bad?

Question

If I open a bottle of wine and drink some today, will the wine be okay to drink a week or more later if it isnt put in the fridge?

the wine will not be in refrigerator after it is opened.

a groups of my close friends (all of us are 21 or over) are going on a camping trip, thats why there will not be a refrigerator. that is the most important part. and its a red cabernet from 2004, pretty cheap wine from a store.

Answer 1

i work at a wine bar...your bottle in question? less than 36 hours. what causes a wine to go bad after opening it is excessive exposure to oxygen. you can purchase a "wine pump" to extract the air in the bottle, but that only adds a few hours providing you have an airtight seal. (where i work, we have beer taps attached to nitrogen tanks that we shoot into open bottles to push oxygen out which at best extends the life for 24-36 hours) not to mention, while camping you'll probably be handling the wine in hot temperatures which only adds to its deterioration.
the best advice i can offer is to drink as much as you can once you open it and bring other forms of blessed "alco-mo-hol" to enjoy on your trip...

Answer 2

Generally, after you open a bottle of wine, it's advisable to put it in the fridge, and to seal it back properly. If it's just for a few days the cork or cap will do, but if longer, you might consider buying one of those pumps that will vacuum seal the bottle back for you so that the wine will not continue to oxidize. Oxidization will cause the wine to spoil. A high temperature will also speed up this process, hence the keeping in the fridge.

As a general rule, you should smell the wine and have a small sip to determine yourself if the wine is spoilt, as wines spoil at different rates, depending on how they were aged, bottled, the temperature at which its kept, etc. The wine should not smell or taste sour or "vinegar-ish". The colour of the wine should not differ much or at all from the original colour when it's opened (tilt your glass and hold it against the light to see)
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Hi I just read the update. Although you don't have a fridge, it is okay as long as you keep the wine in a cool place (i.e. not direct under the hot sun). I don't know how long it will last, since I am not sure what the weather is like where you are, but you can still test the wine according to the "smell-colour-taste" test I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Anyway if it's so many of you, I'm sure you can finish the wine, a bottle has only - what? - 6 glasses of wine in it?

Answer 3

Looks like you have a couple of educated answers. You can re-cork; that will last a couple of days. Refrigerate to prolong spoilage. A wine stopper that pumps out the air can help, but that will only gain you an additional 24 hours.

Personally, my experience tells me that a week or more is too late to enjoy your wine. It just isn't the same 4-5 days later.

Wine is a great ingredient added to recipes. Cook with it, or think about mixing the wine into a marinade. (Add herbs, olive oil, seasonings, soy sauce -- your preference.)

For a real treat, buy steaks, or roasts and BEFORE freezing pour the marinade over the meat / poultry. Freeze, then, as it thaws, the marinade thaws with the meat, infusing all that flavor! Enjoy.

Answer 4

A week or more is going to be a little long. There is no reason not to put it in the fridge to get a couple extra days out of it. (even the reds... unless you don't have a fridge) There are injectors that you can use to top off the wine with argon or other inert gas to prevent spoiling...but hey who's going to buy one of those. Greeks will sometimes top there wine with olive oil to prevent air contact (that's whats changing the wine) and then pour it off before re-serving the wine. I find this trick...tricky and difficult. So Your not going to have much luck keeping the wine good for a week without an effort that is probably not worth the hassle unless you are drinking wines "worth" saving for a week.

Answer 5

recork after opening, or get a cap that pumps the air out of a bottle after you have closed it again. If opened then refrigerated, you might get a week to ten days out of a white wine. With a red wine, at room temperature, even re-corked, will only last about 4 - 5 days.

Answer 6

Hi! When I was selling wines at wine tastings in South Africa, we chucked out any wine not used on the day it was opened. According to the guy who trained us on the wine farm, it spoils immediately from the time it's opened, and is only good for cooking the day after opening, thereafter should be thrown away.

I tested the theory by tasting from two bottles of the same stuff, one bottle opened the day before, and the older one was seriously vinegar.

It won't kill you to drink week-old wine, but it will be gross compared to freshly-opened wine. Please note however that wine does turn to vinegar as it gets older - so the longer the wine is open for, the larger the chance of it upsetting your stomach.

Answer 7

A red wine will last 1-3 days after its opened, depending on the wine.

A white wine can last a few days to several weeks if kept in the refrigerator. Again, it really depends on the wine.

Answer 8

A bottle of wine made from grapes usually turns bad within a period of 1 to 3 days. It commonly turns bad due to the air introduced into the bottle after uncorking it. This is turn subjects the wine to oxidation

Answer 9

No. It won't be rotted or make you ill, but it won't taste as good, even after as few as 3 days, especially unrefrigerated. This is especially true of bottles with corks rather than the newer screw top bottles.

Answer 10

Lie the bottle on it's side and it should last indefinitely. The important thing is to keep the cork moist.