You don’t need a wine cellar to do right by your wine, but there are a few ways to store and serve your wine to keep it tasting its best.
Do you refrigerate open bottles of wine? Yes, you do refrigerate open bottles of wine. This is true for both red and white wines.
Are you looking at that open bottle of red wine on the counter with confusion already? Let’s get into why (and when!) it’s best to refrigerate wine, along with a few wine storage tips to keep your wine and wine knowledge fresh.
Keeping white wine, rosé wine, and sparkling wine chilled punctuates their delicate aromas, crisp flavors, and acidity. Fuller-bodied whites like oaked Chardonnay are best when served between 50-60 degrees, which brings out their rich textures. Dessert wines also are great in this temperature range.
How to Preserve Wine
The best way to preserve wine is to keep it as close as possible to the winemaker’s intentions when sealing up an open bottle.
Try to recork the bottle using the original cork with the same end inside the bottle as before. You dont know where the top of the cork has been and certainly don’t want potential contaminants touching your wine. If your bottle has a screw cap, this part of wine preservation is even easier.
If you can’t use the original cork, a wine stopper works well, but you don’t even need to get that fancy with leftover wine. A piece of plastic wrap wound tightly around the lip of the bottle and then held there with a rubber band is a decent short-term fix.
Wine gadgets that promise a vacuum seal and inert gas sprays are other options if you’re worried about the shelf life of more expensive opened bottles of wine. In most cases, the simple methods we described work well to keep your wine fresh after opening.
The most crucial part is not letting your wine sit on the counter uncorked indefinitely. Unless you’re decanting a bottle to finish in one sitting, recork an open bottle of wine immediately after you pour your wine.
Whether it’s red or white, refrigerate your wine in between pours. Just give your reds time to return to their ideal serving temperature before the next glass. A wine fridge is great if you plan on starting a wine collection, but your kitchen refrigerator is fine for this, too.
Storing and Serving Red Wines
Serving red wine the right way starts well before you uncork a bottle. The best way to store unopened wine is to keep the wine at a consistent temperature and limit movement. A cool, dark place out of direct sunlight is best if you don’t have a wine refrigerator.
Humidity between 50-80 percent is ideal, which isn’t too much of an ask unless you live somewhere with extremes. Use a dehumidifier if humidity at home goes above that number. Keep your wine bottles on a horizontal wine rack if they’re corked. Twist-offs can go vertical.
Do you refrigerate red wine? You don’t need to refrigerate red wine if it’s unopened, but red wine is at its best when stored at a temperature of about 55° F.
The ideal temperature for serving red wine is between 60-68° F. That should be cooler than room temperature, the temp most people probably go by when pouring reds.
If you already have some wine expertise and store reds at their preferred temperature, you still need to let them sit out for a bit before serving. A half-hour should do. Run lukewarm water over the bottle if you left your red wine in the kitchen fridge too long or you run short on time.
Once opened, red wine can last anywhere from 3-6 days before going bad. Full-bodied reds like a cabernet sauvignon can last longer once opened than a light-bodied pinot noir.
Fun fact: High-alcohol fortified wines, like port or sherry, can retain their taste for weeks, even years after opening. The shelf life is even longer, making them ideal for aging. There’s no expiration date on an unopened bottle of Madeira, for example.
Wine in the fridge – good or bad?
FAQ
What kind of wine needs to be refrigerated?
Does all wine need to be refrigerated?
What wine does not go in the fridge?
Which wines should not be chilled?
Should you refrigerate red wine?
Whether it’s red or white, refrigerate your wine in between pours. Just give your reds time to return to their ideal serving temperature before the next glass. A wine fridge is great if you plan on starting a wine collection, but your kitchen refrigerator is fine for this, too. Serving red wine the right way starts well before you uncork a bottle.
What is considered moderate consumption of wine?
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers an acceptable level of consumption three standard doses of 120 ml of wine per week for men and two for women.
Do you need a wine refrigerator?
Much like a wine cellar, a wine refrigerator would be an ideal storage solution. But unless you have a sizable collection of wine bottles or have the budget (and space) for a wine refrigerator, there’s no need to buy one. Also known as a wine fridge, wine chiller, or wine cooler, these appliances cost hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars.
How long can you keep wine in a fridge?
Convenient for immediate drinking, your kitchen fridge is not the right place to keep wine longer term. (Getty Images/iStockPhoto) Keeping wines in your household refrigerator is fine for up to a couple months, but it’s not a good bet for the longer term.