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How Long an Open Bottle Lasts

A sealed bottle is a stable object. An open one is a chemical reaction with a clock attached. Once air replaces the liquid in the neck, oxygen starts working on the aromatic compounds that make a drink smell like itself, and the space at the top of the bottle grows a little with every pour. How much that matters depends on three things: how strong the drink is, how much of it is left, and how warm and how bright its storage spot happens to be.

The line at about 20% ABV

Alcohol is a preservative, and at roughly 20% ABV it becomes strong enough that most spoilage organisms cannot get a hold. Above that line a bottle is chemically stable for a long time. Below it — table wine at 12 to 14%, vermouth at 15 to 18%, most cream liqueurs — the drink is perishable once opened and belongs in the refrigerator rather than on a shelf. Spirits at 40% ABV and above do not go off in any dangerous way, but they do change: the top notes fade first, and a bottle open for a couple of years can taste flatter and more obviously alcoholic than it did on the first pour.

Wine, by style

  • Light red such as Beaujolais: refrigerator with the stopper in, three to four days.
  • Fuller red: cool cupboard or refrigerator, three to five days.
  • Dry white or rosé: refrigerator, three to five days.
  • Sparkling wine: refrigerator with a proper stopper, one to three days, and it will lose its fizz.
  • Dessert wine: refrigerator, one to two weeks, longer if it is very sweet.
  • Fortified wine such as port: cool dark cupboard, four to eight weeks.
  • Vermouth: refrigerator, one to three months.

Red wine gets no exemption from the refrigerator. Cold slows oxidation and buys you days, and a red taken out twenty minutes before dinner is back at serving temperature. A vacuum stopper removes some air and helps a little; a blanket of inert gas helps more; neither will make an open bottle last a month. Pouring what is left into a smaller bottle until it is full to the neck is the most effective home trick there is, because it removes the headspace that oxygen works from.

Spirits, which are more forgiving than people assume

A 46% single malt or aged rum will keep for months, and usually a year or two, without becoming undrinkable. What changes is the top of the aroma range: the delicate fruit and floral notes step back and the cask and alcohol notes step forward. Three habits slow that down. Keep the bottle upright, so a natural stopper is not sitting in high-strength spirit for years. Keep it out of the light, which degrades both the spirit and the packaging. Keep it cool and steady — a cupboard away from the oven, not the shelf above the refrigerator, which is one of the warmest places in a house. Finish a bottle within about six months for the best version of it, and accept that the last third of a long-open bottle is a different drink from the first pour.

Heat is the real enemy

Short of a broken seal, nothing ruins a bottle faster than heat. A car trunk on a summer afternoon, a delivery box left on a sunny porch, a windowsill, a radiator or a hot garage can push a wine past 100°F within an hour, and the damage is irreversible: the fruit flattens, the wine tastes cooked, and the cork can be pushed out of shape. That is why delivery of wine and spirits is best planned for a day when somebody is at home, and why a bottle that arrives warm should be given a few days to settle before you judge it. Repeated temperature swings are nearly as bad as one hot afternoon, which is why the steadiest corner you have beats the coldest one.

Judging a bottle past its best

  • Smell before you pour. Wet cardboard or a musty basement usually means a cork fault, not age.
  • Sharp vinegar and a sour sting means acetic spoilage. Nothing brings that back.
  • Flat, sherry-like and slightly brown in a white wine means oxidation. It is not dangerous, but it is not pleasant either.
  • A faint dullness in a spirit is normal after a long time open. Give it ten minutes in the glass before deciding.
  • Wine that has gone flat or slightly oxidised can still be used in cooking; a spirit that smells of nothing but alcohol usually cannot.

Write the date on the bottle

The single most useful habit is a piece of tape and a marker. Write the date you opened the bottle on the bottle or on the cap, and you will never again wonder whether the Rioja in the door shelf is from Tuesday or from three weeks ago. Pair the tape with three rules and very little gets wasted: refrigerate anything under 20% ABV once it is open, keep everything upright and dark, and taste before deciding a bottle is finished. Most bottles are better than their owners assume, and a few are considerably worse. The date tells you which is which.