How long is Red wine good for after its been opened?

How long will red wine stay fresh after the bottle is opened?

• How long will it stay fresh in the fridge? How long will it stay fresh at room temp.?

• Answer:

  Short answer: 2-3 days room temp before it really starts to loose its luster 3-5 days in the fridge before it really starts to loose its luster Long Answer: It entirely depends on the wine. Heartier wines tend to last longer. Higher alcohol and tannin content tend to give it more life once the cork has been pulled. There are some wines that taste better the second or third day that they have been opened. Now, this doesn't mean I would recommend opening a bottle unless you plan to drink it that night or over the course of the following two days. The refrigerator will lengthen the lifespan by two or maybe three days, where as it might have only been two or three days at room temp, the fridge might bring it to four or five days. It is entirely possible that the wine is drinkable after a week, but what will have happened is that it will have lost some of its character (flavors, aromas, balance). As a little experiment, find two wines that don't break the bank, open one and place it in the fridge. After a few days go by open the other up and do a taste test to see what you've lost by leaving it in the fridge. This might give you a better idea than anything else as to how long things can last. The other two options are to gas the wine with inert gases. Wine stores tend to have little bottles of the stuff. You spray it into the bottle and then re-cork it. The inert gas is supposed to slow the oxidizing process. I prefer the pump method. Buy a vacuvin, and several of their rubber corks, and you simply pump the oxygen out. This method, from my experience, works about as well as the gas method, but you don't have to keep buying the cans of gas, which can get expensive. Hope that helps! Cheers!