Because the temperature just below the earth’s surface stays at a steady 53 to 57 degrees year round, it’s the perfect place to keep wine cool for long-term storage. In the days before refrigeration, wine was stored underground to keep it cool and reduce temperature fluctuations. You don’t need a wine cellar to store wine effectively, but you should try to mimic the conditions of an old-fashioned grotto. Think of this as the one exception to a general rule that you should drink your wine within two years of the expiration date. Wine lovers make sure they provide the perfect storage conditions to allow the finest wines to develop their best flavor over the years. These tend to be expensive, and you can’t just ignore them to age them properly. When someone talks about aging a fine wine, they generally mean rich, red wines - think Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot - that are designed to get more mellow over time. In general, if you spent less than $30 for the wine, you should drink it within a year or two of purchase at most - and preferably right away! These aren’t bad wines by any means, but they aren’t typically the kind that get better with age, either. It should be noted that most wines are meant to be drunk shortly after being bottled, while they’re at the peak of flavor and aroma. Cooking Wine: 3-5 years past the expiration date.Red Wine: 2-3 years past the expiration date.White Wine: 1-2 years past the expiration date.In general, here’s what you can expect from the most common types of wine you’re likely to have on hand: This one-two punch of preservation is what allowed early vintners to ship their fine wines around the world and still have their products stay delicious after long months in a ship’s hold.Įven though wine is designed to last longer than plain grapes or grape juice, it will still break down eventually. Second, the addition of all that alcohol makes it much harder for most bacteria to survive, which also keep spoilage at bay. First, the lowered sugar content doesn’t give bacteria as much to feed on, making the spoiling process slower. This helps preserve the juice in two ways. When grapes are fermented into wine, yeast is added to break down sugar and convert it into alcohol.
That’s the whole point of fermenting the grapes and allowing the alcohol to develop in the first place. Wine is designed to last for a long time, after all. In general, an unopened bottle has a much longer shelf life than an opened one. The answer to this question depends on two main factors: the type of wine and the storage conditions it was subjected to.
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