A Couple More Common Wine Questions

Wine is the perfect way to compliment great food, social functions or even a simple outing. If you are just starting to get into wine, it is likely that you may have quite a few questions that you find yourself asking about wine. To help you sort out and answer some of those wine questions, we’ve taken the time to answer just a couple of those common questions you may be asking yourself about wine.

1. After wine is opened, how long does it last? Wines are capable of lasting for about a day or two after it’s been opened. However there are a couple of things that you can do to help it last longer. Wines have a tendency to go “off” after they have been opened because it interacts with oxygen while it’s warm. In order to help slow the rate of these reactions, simply refrigerate the wine. Before you refrigerate the wine, remove as much oxygen from the bottle as you can by 1) transferring wine to a smaller bottle, 2) using a vacuum pump to remove the air from the bottle, or 3) add an inert gas to your bottle to help form a protective blanket over the wine’s surface. All of these things can be found in most wine accessory stores.

2. Screw caps, on wine? Screw caps are also known as Stelvins. In the wine trade, screw caps are quickly beginning to replace natural cork closures. Unfortunately, corks have a tendency to be naturally irregular. While some corks produce great seals, others don’t which results in the same bottles of wine aging differently. Plus, natural corks also have a tendency to become corked which can ultimately taint wine. Screw caps allow uniformity and perfect seals which help to avoid any issues that might be caused by cork finished bottles.