Whaddya do with the leftovers?

No doubt this has happened to you, you’ve opened a bottle of wine, but only had a couple of glasses out of it. You stared at it thinking, “What do I do with the rest?” Happens all the time, especially if you open a bottle by yourself — like I do.

One option immediately comes to mind, just stick the cork back in it. Problem with that is the air in the bottle will turn the wine sour pretty quickly. Two days, tops. You can freeze the vino in an ice cube rack, and use it for cooking. But don’t plan on drinking any of it, you won’t like the results.

Wait, don’t pour it down the drain yet because there are better solutions. WARNING, there will be some chemistry mentioned here. First, there’s a little gizmo called a Vac-u-vin. Basically a rubber stopper with a one-way valve that lets you suck the air out of the bottle with a plastic plunger thingy. You’ll never get all of the air out, but you end up with less air to oxidize the wine (that’s why it turns sour). I’ve had wine under a Vac-u-vin last nearly a week. Putting it in the fridge — even if it’s red — helps because the cold slows the oxidation process. (There’s the first bits of chemistry.) The Vac-u-vin thingy is fairly cheep, but it’s not the best solution our there. That would be a seemingly empty spray can that’s actually full of inert gasses, like Argon and Nitrogen (yep, more chemistry). These spray cans come with a little plastic tube that you stick down into the bottle. Then you give the bottle four or five quick squirts of the gas, and stick the cork back into the bottle. The inert gas is heavier than the air, so it sinks to the surface of the vino, sealing it from the air that wants to ruin it. (No more chemistry, I promise.) Wine treated this way can easily last a week without any loss of flavor. Especially if you stick it in the fridge (just let the reds warm up a bit before serving).

Seriously, the gas stuff works! I use it all the time. But the can does run out, whereas the Vac-u-vins last a good long time. Either way, you end up with tastier leftovers than you would without them. Plus, you lose that whole “I can’t open any wine because it’s just me” dilemma.

You can usually find either solution at any decent wine shop, or kitchen goodies store, like Bed, Bath. So go ahead, have a glass — even if it’s just you.

Cheers!