How to Properly Cork Wine (and Why It Matters)
Whether you’re drinking wine or cooking with it, you can’t drink the whole bottle in one go. Sure, you can use a wine stopper to keep the wine fresh until you’re ready to drink it, but what if you don’t have one? As it turns out, there is a proper way to re-cork a bottle of wine. Here’s what you need to know.
How long does a bottle of wine keep after it has been opened?
Once a bottle of wine has been opened, it can usually be drunk for another two to five days if properly stored, depending on the type of wine. It’s a little different with sparkling wine: while it’s likely to be empty the next day, it can stay fresh enough to be drunk for up to three days if corked properly.
How to buy wine
First, let’s start with the do’s and don’ts . If you want to drink the rest of the wine, do not leave the bottle open. Even if you’ve thrown away the cork and don’t have a wine cork, covering the bottle neck with a piece of cling film or foil and securing with a rubber band isn’t perfect, but better than nothing.
And now, how to rebuy wine:
Examine the cork
Before trying to cork a wine, take a close look at the cork itself. Damaged? Are the pieces falling off? Is it crumbling? Is there a hole that goes through the cork from the moment it is opened?
If either of these statements is true, then you should not attempt to reuse the cork unless the damage is really minimal, in which case you may be able to get away with wrapping the cork in wax paper. (More on this in a minute.)
Return the wine-soaked side.
If your cork is intact, resist the temptation to put the “clean” side in a bottle of wine: this is the side that has been in the world and made contact with God knows what. It is better to stick the end of the cork stained with wine into the bottle.
To reinsert the cork , place the bottle on a stable, stable surface, then tilt the cork so that the wine-stained end is in the bottle and the clean end is against the neck. From there, press down on the cork, turning it until the cork is about halfway in the bottle.
Use wax paper
Even if you still have the original cork and it’s intact, it’s probably expanded since you first took it out of the bottle, making it hard to get back inside. But you can get around this – and ensure the cork stays together – with a little bit of wax paper .
Cut a piece of waxed paper about the same length as the cork and wide enough to wrap once (but no more). Then place one end of the cork in the center of the wax paper.
Place the bottle on a stable, solid surface, then insert the closed end of the cork. Gently push it down, in a rocking motion—don’t twist it, or the waxed paper may wrinkle and tear—until the cork is about halfway in the bottle.
Put the bottle in the fridge
Once the wine bottle is corked again, there are a few more things you can do to prevent the wine from oxidizing too quickly. First, store the bottle upright to minimize the surface area of the wine exposed to oxygen. Also, cooler temperatures help slow down the oxidation process, so it’s best to keep a re-corked bottle of wine in the refrigerator, even if it’s red .