Leftover wine?! My wine-loving friends think such a thing is preposterous. But it’s an actual concern for us mortals.
The immediate choice is to push the cork back in and refrigerate. A better alternative is to get a hand vacuum pump that evacuates the air out of the bottle, leaving the two-way stopper in and locking air out. For a few days, under refrigeration, this would work fine if you were not the fussy type.
Another alternative is to use it in cooking; Something my wife Betsey has done many times, providing a good enhancement of the meal.
Suppose over the past several evenings you’ve had Merlot, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and just a small amount of Riesling taking up room in the refrigerator. Get your creative juices going. If possible, pour all of them into one bottle, making up your own secret blend. The purpose is to get the wine up to as close to the top as possible before resealing to limit the amount of air that can get in.
After this concoction sits for a least a day under refrigeration to allow the liquids to blend together a little, this presents an opportunity for you to make wine coolers. A glass filled with ice, wine blend, lemon-lime soda or plain tonic water. This concoction tastes better than you might imagine.
If you limit yourself and significant other to wines with only 90 point ratings or higher and you simply cannot finish your French Bordeaux in one sitting, don’t take any chances of it going bad and certainly don’t relegate it to being a part of the concoctive blend mentioned above. Instead, shop around for inert gas. Being heavier than air, it forms a blanket of gas over the wine, keeping the air out and eliminating oxidation of your special wine.
Not available at local retailers, it can be purchased on line via Amazon for about $10-$12 a canister, and lasts for well over 100 uses. The actual gas in the container is a mix of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon;
www.privatepreserve.com
. will give you product information.
One of my early favorite drinks with wine as the base is sangria. Such a drink not only cools you down after a hot summer day, but it also helps you to get more fruits into your diet! Here is a “starter” sangria; you can vary it to your own taste:
- Dice a whole orange, lemon and apple
- Place everything in a large pitcher
- Add up to a quarter cup of white granulated sugar and 2-3 bottles of red wine blend, and a quarter bottle of brandy
- Stir until sugar is dissolved, refrigerate.
- Serve cold over ice or alone.
Ron Smith, a retired NDSU Extension horticulturist, writes weekly about his love of wine and its history. Readers can reach him at tuftruck1@gmail.com .
