If a half bottle of wine is corked in the fridge, when does it go bad?!
Answers: i.e., when is it not OK to drink it anymore?
Hi there - a good rule of thumb is if you open a bottle of wine tonight, you should finish it by tomorrow night. Once wine is exposed to air, it oxidizes like a cut apple. The effect of the oxidation will depend greatly on the wine - white wines, and red wines with low tannin contect (Pinot Noir, for example), will show the effects of oxygen sooner that denser red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon. That being said, even a bottle of Cab will taste flatter and more tired after a couple of days open. Wine actually picks up oxygen FASTER at colder temperatures (i.e. in the fridge), and recorking the bottle can't remove the oxygen that's already entered the bottle and is in contact with the surface of the wine. It won't hurt you to drink an oxidized wine, but it won't be nearly as pleasant as it could be...again, think of the browned apple.
It will be OK to drink forever, but will begin to taste like vinegar after 2-7 days (depending on the varietal, how long you left it uncorked after opening, etc.). The vinegar taste will become more pronounced after each day. I love wine with all my heart and soul, but this is the only downside to it. Boxed wines don't have this problem and I have been pretty impressed by some of them. So if you find yourself in this situation often, consider a boxed wine or half-size bottles of wine.
You still have wine in your fridge??? Gotta Drink up sweetie!
Refrigerated, a bottle of wine can last up to two weeks but will have started to lose flavor after just six hours. Left at room temperature a wine will be undrinkable after just 24 hours. Even after a wine is "undrinkable" it is still considered good enough to cook with until it turns to vinegar.
I do this all the time and I find that on average that it is not so tasty after the 3rd day.
Many will say it should be drunk on the same day it is opened for optimal taste but in the end it comes down to your own taste buds to judge when to chuck it.
You can always make mulled wine with it if it starts to taste bad.
weeks later
First of all, it will "keep" much longer if you cork it, then tip it until the cork is soaked with wine. It goes bad because the air in the bottle, but also the little hole in the cork. That said, the 2-7 day rule applies. This will not be the case, however if you have decanted the wine, in which it will only last 1-3 days as decanting oxidizes the wine. [oxygen opens up the flavors of the wine, but also causes it to deteriorate very quickly] Hope this helps.!