how to preserve newly made wine?

Question

is it possible to keep a newly made wine for long? how late a bottle of wine can be kept with good quality?

Answer 1

It will depend on how you made the wine. Most factory type kits will also include metabisulphites which is a preservative. If extra sweetening was added near the end of the production then it should have had some potassium sorbate added to keep the wine from re-fermenting.

In any event, I have made what I call my " homemade sweet hillbilly wine" using no preservatives and it lasted as long as 2 years before it started to go to "vinegar". It was a very sweet wine and the acid levels were not near as high as a dry wine but lasted quite awhile.I would say it should be fine for 6 months to a year and most new wine needs to sit around awhile to get " mellow". Just store the wine in a dark cool area. Ideal storage temperature would be about 55 degrees but most people don't have a wine frig, so keep in it in a cool dark area of a basement will do also. Date the bottles and try one at a month, then 6 months then a year.

Hope you do well on this. It really isn't hard to make very good homemade wines. Start up cost for equipment is the worse part.

Answer 2

Wine can be kept for a long time. But, some wines are better when they are consumed fresher. Even in the store, look for a reisling that is more than a few years old...why? It sucks old.
I make homemade wine and try to consume it fast as possible. How long you can keep your wine depends on a lot of factors and one factor is you. Did you contaminate your wine in any way with bacteria? Is the temperature constantly cool? Did you cork it properly, etc.?
You'll have to do some experimenting to find out. I have some bottles that are 4 years old, homemade and still delicious. This is why certain little villages in out of the way places can become famous for wine, there are so many variables.

Answer 3

First off, I just LOVE the screw the top back on answer ! Next, you didn't mention what kind it is. If it's a red wine, re-cork it with the other side of the original cork and store it in a cabinet if no wine cellar is available -- do not refrigerate it. If it's a zin or white, re-cork and refrigerate. It needs not be laid sideways as you have already oxidized and uncorked it, (reasons to lay bottles sideways and rotate 1/4 turn every month are to keep the wine from becoming "corked"). Reds will not keep as long and I highly recommend drinking it within 2 days or using it to cook with within 5 days. A decent chardonnay will keep for a couple of days, but remember every minute that goes by lessens the quality. Finally, if you did indeed "unscrew" it to begin with, it matters not what you do -- it will suck as bad tomorrow as it did today.

Answer 4

If you have used the one that you add water yourself, the shelf life is less then the one that you make crushing your own grapes, I have made the first one and I kept it in a cool cellar for a year ,in regard of the other one they say" it's like men they mellow with age!"
Salute!

Answer 5

Of course you can.That's why you make it.Noone drinks new wine straight away.Youv'e got to bottle and cork it.Old wines were new once.And they can last hundereds of years.