Some opened wines go bad overnight some do not

Hola Leo,

In my own (limited) experience, heavy reds (cab, zin) and whites (sauv blanc, chard) seem to hold up well after opening. Some even improve. Lighter wines (Riesling, Pinot Noir) don't seem to last as long.

Dan-O (former FL resident)

Well, here's some examples...

Old wines - ones that are possibly over-the-hill while undoubtedly collapse.

Young wines may improve. Especially, the tannins in vigorous reds may soften.

Wines made in an oxidised style will not change much. I'm not sure quite how long an opened bottle of Madera will keep, but it is more than a few days!

I can offer a recent example - Turley Old Vines 2000. Opened 11/2/04. Drank nearly half a bottle. Tasted young, somewhat tight. I knew it needed to open. Put in a cool closet for the next night. It was beautiful on night 2. A perfect balance. So I'll wait a year before I open another and expect it to be more ready to drink on night one.

Mature wines will oxidize rapidly.

Although her books are more aimed at the beginning wine drinker and the more mass marketed wines, Andea Immer's books include a rating of how the wines survive after they are opened. Off the top of my head I can't remember her exact ratings, but they are along the line of improves after a day, holds for a day or two, dies a quick death after being opened for a day. This is good info to show newer wine lovers that have your exact question.

Cliff

Wines may change within an hour of opening, for better or for worse. Some aficionados keep a diary of a wine's life from opening to finishing. Not me.

snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com,

What's the matter? Don't you have any drinking buddies? When we have our Italian dinner parties, we go through 7 or 8 bottles in one evening!

If only. I've been warned by my doctor not to drink anymore 7 or 8 bottles in an evening.

And, after learning a bit about wine, on this ng and elsewhere, I decided to limit that consumption to expensive wine ("spending our kids' inheritance" and so on).

So there you have it. In years gone by, when I gave dinner parties to professional contacts, I got a higher reimbursement if I served 2 or 3 different wines of an evening. Funnily enough, my employer didn't ask me to prove the worth of those wines.

Now, nobody pays me for anything. But if I can get a smile of recognition from my guests it more than makes up for the cost.

Yet, advice I got early in my career rings in my ears: when you have a great bottle of wine, save it to drink when you are depressed. Don't waste it on your customers and clients who more than likely won't appreciate it anyway. Give them a decent bottle first round, and give them plonk second and subsequent rounds, and they will praise you ever after for your hospitality and sommelier awareness.

Perhaps.

finishing.

With 10 or 12 people.