Noobie storage question

Hi All,

I want to start trying some different wines and learning about it all. My question is, if I get a bottle of wine that I'm going to drink glass by glass over a week or two (or longer), how do I store the bottle? Room temperature in my house is around 74F most of the time. Should I leave it out and maybe chill each glass in the fridge, or should I put the bottle in the fridge and let each glass warm just a little? I've read that the temperature to shoot for is between 55 and 65F and I'll probably get a little wine cooler cabinet one day but what's the best way to store a bottle that will be gone in a month or two if you don't have a cellar are cooler?

Thanks much

Reply to
Bruce
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question is, if I get a bottle of wine that I'm going to drink glass by glass over a week or two (or longer), how do I store the bottle? Room temperature in my house is around 74F most of the time. Should I leave it out and maybe chill each glass in the fridge, or should I put the bottle in the fridge and let each glass warm just a little? I've read that the temperature to shoot for is between

55 and 65F and I'll probably get a little wine cooler cabinet one day but what's the best way to store a bottle that will be gone in a month or two if you don't have a cellar are cooler?

What I would do is that when I open it, I would pour the glass I'm going to drink, and pour the rest into a split and a champaigne split (half a split). This gives me four nice sized drinks per bottle, and keeps the air out. I then cork it with a VacUVin and pump it down (since the little bottles are pretty much full, it takes only a fraction of a pump, and I'm not even convinced that it's necessary, considering the tiny ullage).

I store them in the fridge.

In general, I drink whites at fridge temp, and I put reds in the nuke for five to ten seconds, to take the chill off. (Pour it into a regular glass, zap it, and then pour it into your wine glass). The exact amount of time will depend on the power of your microwave and the desired drinking temperature.

Jose

Reply to
Jose

Bruce wrote in news:05V3g.50523$az4.44814 @bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

The advice to get a few small bottles is good. the refrigerator rather assures that any degradation takes place at a very slow level. One can always cup the glass with their hands for a wine that is too cold (bring the bottle out an hour or two early works as well. Otherwise get a freind and each have two glasses!

Reply to
Joseph Coulter

Thanks for the answers. So storing in the fridge is the way to go. That works for me I just didn't know if storing it that cold would cause any negative effects.

Cheers,

Bruce

Reply to
Bruce

in article suV3g.50643$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net, Bruce at snipped-for-privacy@diespammers.moc wrote on 4/26/06 6:53 PM:

The small bottle, air pump and fridge recommendations are all good. I would question, however, whether all of that will preserve a good wine experience for "a week or two.... or longer". Most would agree that 3 or 4 days is as much as you could hope for with most wines. That said, reality is more that it depends a lot on your own taste sensitivity and familiarity with what the wine should taste like..... and on the wines themselves.

Reply to
Midlife

Maybe I should rethink this and plan on drinking each bottle within a day or two. I have ordered "Wine for Dummies" so maybe that will help me figure all this out.

Thanks,

Bruce

Reply to
Bruce

He could go the overkill route and purchase a nitrogen purge device. They have them for individual bottles. Many restaurants seem to use them for their by the glass sales.

Reply to
miles

What do wineries do when they rebottle?

Jose

Reply to
Jose

Yes, the 3-4 day time is more realistic. As a fun experiment, try the wine just out of the fridge, and see what you can pick up from it - probably not too much. As has been suggested, warming the wine by cupping the glass in your hands will help raise the temp, though this method is frowned on in some wine circles. I always do this when a white is served too cold, which is very common in the US. My pleasure is far more important than what some wine-snobs think is proper for holding one's glass. I do the same for reds in my house, as all opened bottles see "fridge" time, between pourings. In sunny AZ/US, it's not too difficult to get the temp UP - keeping it DOWN is more of a problem, especially as we get on towards our Summer.

Play around with the temp of the wines, and see how things change. Don't be affraid to sample a wine too cold, or too hot, just note your experiences with it. Many whites show their "stuff" when just cool, and reds, just a little less cool. If too warm, both will seem "hot" with alcohol, but too cold, and they don't offer much at all.

BTW I recommend the "Wine For Dummies" book. Got a copy years ago, and stuck it on the shelf for a good long while. One day, after reading almost everything else in the house, I found it. Despite the title (and previous experiences with the "X For Dummies" books), I found it to be quite well done and fairly comprehensive. I have actually re-read it a few times, as there are some good tidbits in it. If you have not gotten any of Andrea Immer's (I think now Robinson) books, I'd recommend them. Her wine tasting course is quite good, and fun in the "homework" section.

Most of all, enjoy, Hunt

Reply to
Hunt

Hunt wrote: > Yes, the 3-4 day time is more realistic. As a fun experiment, try the wine

Thanks for the info. I used to avoid the "for Dummies" books too, but I finally gave in. I usually look to that series first now and if the reviews are really good that's where I usually start. I do have one Andrea Immer book on my wishlist, I'll look into her others. Another newbie question - do you store an unopened bottle at room temperature and chill when you want to drink it, or put it in the fridge so it's ready to drink whenever?

Thanks much,

Bruce

Reply to
Bruce

Jose wrote

And does the nuking change the wine? Spoil it, for example? Just curiuos, because some people I know are drinking way-too-cold Chianti these days: they had a 3days roundabout in Tuscany a couple weeks ago, seeking for god bottles to carry home, but here in this town it is already too warm to drink red wine at room temp (figure out white...), so they're keeping some bottles in the fridge and, when they bring the bottles out, they're not always gonna wait as needed, I can witness (sigh). If a nuke makes no harm, better nuked wine than cold wine, I'd say. Any opinion?

Reply to
Vilco

I've heard this is pretty common practice in some restos.

I confess: I do it with low-mid wines in winter. My cellar is very cold, I often forget to take something out in time. I pour into a large measuring cup, give it 20 seconds or so, and stir. Sounds horrible, but the wine doesn't seem to suffer! :)

Wouldn't try it with a 20 year Bordeaux, mind you.

-E

Reply to
Emery Davis

This reminds me of a conversation I overheard many years ago on a commuter train, wherein the participants were warning against microwaves because the "cause chemical changes in the food".

Right. That's what "cooking" is. :)

Microwaves work by making water molecules vibrate faster. It also works the same way on fats and oilss and other molecules that respond to those frequencies of radio waves. Paper and glass are not among those, which is how it tells the difference between food and non-food.

Most of wine is water; there is some alcohol. The temperature rise after five or ten seconds is not much - maybe twenty degrees - just enough to take the chill off. Some parts get warmer, some don't get heated as much, but none of them get overheated. I would imagine that very little energy is absorbed by the other molecules - the ones that make wine different from water, and in any case they are surrounded by lots of water, which is a great heat sink.

Now, if you forget and leave the wine in for a minute or so, you will change the character somewhat (I did that by accident once, and poured the result into a pre-frozen beer mug, which mostly saved it)

That's what I do, and I find no harm whatsoever.

Jose

Reply to
Jose

Why not? Try a test - nuke one glass and let another glass come up to temperature normally. I bet most of the difference would have to do with simple time exposed to air. ("opening up") and none attributed to the microwaves.

Jose

Reply to
Jose

[SNIP]

Bruce,

For me, all goes into the fridge, even the Port. I'll bring out the whites about serving time and let them warm a bit in AZ's ambient temps. Just tonight, I took the Biale Zin out about 6:00 PM for dinner tonight. For Port, I'll pull them out at ~5:00 PM for after dinner, or pour and let warm up, while dinner is on-going. I have not personally tried the microwave, but others swear by it.

Hunt

Reply to
Hunt

Many, that I have hit, first thing in the AM, refrigerate the opened bottles. Some use a Vac-u-vin, or similar, and some use nitrogen purge/fill. Others just stick a cork in and start pouring from ambient temp. So far, I have not noticed any sophisticated storage systems, but may have missed these. Some, seem to never need to store opened bottles, and just open a fresh one. My guess is that the tasting room staff finishes off all open bottles.

Hunt

Reply to
Hunt

Now, I cannot speak for wine in the mic, as I have not done this, but I refuse to use it for most food, as the taste drastically changes, for me, at least. I would rather heat up the kitchen (even in AZ Summers), than mic most food.

We use ours for some sauces, water, reheating coffee (not the best medium for the task, but for that 3rd cup in the AM, it's passable).

Now, I will not speculate on what happens to food at a molecular level in the mic, but I do not like the taste of most of it.

Hunt

Reply to
Hunt

That's not what I meant. When a winery rebottles wine that has been aged in the bottle, but for some reason want to sell it in a different bottle or want to top it up after long aging, or something, they do open the bottles, rebottle them, put in a cork, and seal them up again to lay down for another umpty ump years. What do they do then?

Jose

Reply to
Jose

Cooking with a microwave is different from cooking with any other heat source, just like baking is different from frying. Nuking bread, for example, makes the bread chewy and tough. But bread is not mostly water

- there are a lot of protein chains involved whose molecular shape is what gives bread its texture. When cooking, you =want= to have molecular changes, and sometimes you need high local heat (searing) and sometimes you need gentle overall heat (simmering)... and it's important exactly how that heat is applied. (I would never boil a steak, and I don't think much of grilling an egg in the shell. With cooking foods, it's all different. (Coffee I can't answer for - I don't do coffee.)

In any case, to reheat coffee, you have to zap it quite a bit. To just take the chill off of wine, you don't.

Jose

Reply to
Jose

Hm-m-m, sorry for my misunderstanding. I do not know. Some wineries do a re- cork for customers, but I know nothing of re-bottling.

Hunt

Reply to
Hunt

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