Wine after a month, or several

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aaron-k

Assistant Cook
Joined
May 22, 2006
Messages
9
I read in a previous thread that you shouldn't keep wine (even for cooking) for over two weeks. So what happens to wine after a month or even several months? My mom has had wine that she uses for cooking for several months, if not as much as a year. I don't know how often she cooks with it, but she seems to think it is still good. Should I tell her to dump it (I don't think I'd want to eat something she makes with it the next time I visit)? Is there a point where cooking wine goes really bad and can make you sick?
 
I drink the same wine I cook with, usually a Merlot and a Chardonnay. I keep it above the cupboards and it can sit there for a month or two. My Marsala often sits even longer. I've never had a problem with the quality, although that may say something about my standards more than the wine's quality. When it sits, a silt will form on the bottom and it becomes vinegary. --If it tastes OK, I use it.

Also, don't cook with a wine you're not willing to drink. I used to cook with $5/bottle Burgundy and have since switched to $10-$15 bottles that I'm also willing to drink. I believe it makes a difference.
 
I don't keep wine for more than a few days - and that's even when I Vacuvin or Private Reserve it and store it in the fridge - after that it's no longer palatable, imo.
 
It depends on what type of wine we are talking about. If your mom is using cooking wine then that stuff will last forever. It is loaded with salt which preserves it. It is also disgusting stuff and IMO should never be used.

Fortified wine like Marsala will last quite a while as well. A year would not be out of the question (not everone will agree with me I am sure) for Marsala or other fortified wines.

Regular drinking wines will last the shortest amount of time. After a while it will turn to vinegar. You will know right away if the wine is no longer good.
 
My wine usually doesn't last longer than a day so I don't usually have this problem. If I did, I wouldn't keep it longer than a few days. I agree with GB - my marsala sits in the cabinet for a long time. It tastes fine to me.
 
I think a precisation is necessary. Are we speaking of an OPEN bottle, isn't it? Generally, the duration of a wine is directly dependant from its age. More it's old, less it remains good. A red wine of twenty or more years, if yet good, can be so for some hours, not days. Moreover, more a wine is old, more it's necessary to give it some oxigen, f.i. pouring in a decanter, and this shorts again its life.
A white wine can be good for some time more, but a red wine (if a reasonably good one ) becomes vinegar in a few days.
Taste it. If good, you can use. Otherwise you can surely use on salads, or strawberries, instead of vinegar. Very interesting taste, less strong than true vinegar, but more smelling...
Oh, more alcool has a wine, more remains good. This is the reason for which a good Marsala (from 18 to 24 degrees) remains so long.
 
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To add to what everyone else said ....

Old wine generally won't make you sick. It'll just taste bad (musty, sour, etc.). And that bad taste will be trasferred to the food if you cook with it.

Wine doesn't go bad in the blink of an eye. It degrades gradually after you open it. Your palate determines the point at which the wine is too off-tasting to drink.

I keep opened white wine for maybe a week in the fridge. If I know I'm not going to drink it before it starts f\going bad, I'll freeze it.

I keep opened red wine on the counter for maybe 3 days before I can detect it going bad. I think it lasts longer in the fridge. I let it come up to 60 before I drink it, but you can cook with it chilled. And again, I freeze it rather than throwing it out.
 
Thanks for all the info everyone. GB, after you mentioned cooking wine that reminded me that there's a difference between cooking wine and drinking wine. I'm pretty sure what she has is cooking wine, so I guess I don't have to worry. I'm not a wine drinker, so I don't really know much about wine. So what do you mean by fortified wine?
 
Click here for info on fortified wine.

As for the cooking wine, get your mom to get rid of it if you can and have her try using regular wine. Cooking wine is LOADED with salt. IMO the only thing it is good for is clearing ice off your front porch. Have her try using regular wine just once to compare any see which dish comes out better.
 
jennyema said:
If I know I'm not going to drink it before it starts f\going bad, I'll freeze it.
I freeze it rather than throwing it out.

I've never thought of doing this. Once you freeze it do you drink it or just use it for cooking?
 
GB said:
Click here for info on fortified wine.

As for the cooking wine, get your mom to get rid of it if you can and have her try using regular wine. Cooking wine is LOADED with salt. IMO the only thing it is good for is clearing ice off your front porch. Have her try using regular wine just once to compare any see which dish comes out better.
This is another thing I didn' know. What is this wine? Added with SALT? Where can I find some informations more? Not because I want to use it....But I like horror films:LOL:
GB, I've read the article you have linked. I must say it contains some wrong news. In Marsala, as in every italian wine, no sugar is allowed. Till some years ago (I don't know if now too, if there is someone from France, please, correct me, if necessary....), there has been a wine war between France and Italy, and the reason was exactly this. In France, adding sugar was allowed, in Italy no. So, if a year , in France, might happen they have a particular bad production, they were able to add sugar to encrease alcool levels. For us, this was not possible.
I give you an example. In Italy, there is a wine produced in a little amount in Cinque Terre, in LIguria. Wine Sciacchetrà, 4000 bottles a year. It's produced with dried grapes, and it needs about (if I remember well) ten-12 kilos grapes to have 1 lt wine. It's a "fortified" one (about 17 degrees), but absolutely no sugar is allowed, as nothing more than grapes.
 
RDG thank you for pointing out the wrong facts in that link. I have to confess I did not read the entire article so I am glad you pointed that out!

Yes cooking wine is a horror. In the US it is sold in Supermarkets. If I am not mistaken, they put the salt in so that it is not consumable by itself. That way they can sell it in supermarkets that do not allow the sale of alcohol. I could be wrong about that though so hopefully someone will come along and either confirm or deny that.
 
GB said:
. If I am not mistaken, they put the salt in so that it is not consumable by itself. That way they can sell it in supermarkets that do not allow the sale of alcohol. .
:ohmy: :wacko:
 
TY, Jennyema, I've read......
I could never imagine something similar could exist....My God...Wine with SALT.....:shock:
 
Hi aaron-k, to answer your question about fortified wine it is wine to which alcohol has been added, perhaps in the form of a distilled alcoholic concoction, such as a brandy (that has a relatively high alcohol content).

When one normally makes wine they add yeast to the grape juice and let it ferment (it will do so from the natural yeast, but one usually prefers a yeast that gives a better flavor).

Eventually it stops fermenting (making alcohol) when the alcohol level gets high enough to kill the yeasts (usually about ten percent alcohol or so). Yeast are lousy environmentalists and they pollute their environment until they die. That is NOT a political statement.

But the level of alcohol in 'regular' wine is not enough to stop bacterial growth, and 'regular' wines will go bad shortly (within hours to days) of opening.

Why anyone would ever let wine hang about that long is beyond us here, but some people apparently do.

Wines in casks are also subject to the same bacterial infestations.

To preserve wines, folks found that adding some more alcohol to the wine could make the product relatively immune to bacteria.

And so we have fortified wines that are generally labelled as sherry, port, Marsala, vermouth, or Madiera.

The alcohol level in those wines is often about 18 percent or so, enough to give the bacteria a fatal hernia, or something like that.

Those wines generally last for quite a long time after opening.

Both regular and fortified wines can be used for cooking, and both add different nuances to the food.

As far as cooking wine goes, they used to carry it in the supermarkets I worked in many years ago that could not legally sell wine.

And the other posters, as usual, are correct, it is wine with a whole bunch of salt, and was legal because no one on anything but a down and out bender would ever drink the stuff. Even then, most of those guys would drink after shave or mouthwash or other products that usually contained alcohols that caused far more damage than ethanol, and much more quickly. That is how lousy the cooking wine tasted, I suppose.

Anyway I hope this answers your question.
 
If it sat too long, and air was present,wouldnt it turn into vineager?

With some wines suger is added(mallalactic fermentation), but I have never heard of salt being added.?
 
TATTRAT said:
...With some wines suger is added(mallalactic fermentation), but I have never heard of salt being added.?


Salt is added to the cooking wines sold in supermarkets. Holland House is one brand I've seen. This is done to make it undrinkable. It's often poor quality wine to begin with. The added salt just makes it not worth using.

It's a much better choice to buy fortified wine or good, reasonably priced wine and use that for cooking.
 
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