During my last tasting I noticed that I enjoyed the wine more the following day than I had the first day it was tasted. The bottle was left to chill over night and is a Riesling Spatlese. Today I was reading some tasting notes and noticed that one mentioned that the wine “only starts to reveal its potential after a full week”. They were talking about a bottle of Riesling for reference. I have had red wines over two days and have had Rieslings over three days, but I have never really tasted an open bottle after 3 days. Most of the time the wine is gone by then . To be honest I had never even thought of tasting a wine over a full week period. Is this something that typically done? How long do you enjoy a bottle of wine? Does it differ for different varietals?
I am not including bottles that have been tasted utilizing Corvin. I am more wondering about an open bottle (with cork in when not drinking of course). Thanks for sharing you knowledge
Varies by bottle, familiarity with the producer, mood. Some bottles don’t make it through the night, a near religious experience enjoying to the last drop. Some are just a splash with dinner and will last a few days to do just that. Newer producers or bottles i’m unfamiliar with turn in to a science project. Seeing how they evolve over days, pairings. There’s some times I’ll have 2 or 3 bottles over days like that.
I go through a bottle in about 2-7 days if I’m the only one drinking it. It all changed for me when I started using an air-tight stopper and putting unfinished bottles in the fridge overnight. I then pull them from the fridge about 45 minutes before I drink them on following days to let them come up to proper drinking temperature. Cheaper bottles can go downhill in 2-3 days, but nicer bottles can certainly last a week, and yes, sometimes day 2 or 3 or 4 are when the wine is at it’s peak. My experience is mainly with young Bordeaux. I would imagine older bottles not lasting as long once opened.
Wine rarely makes it to day 2 in our house when both of us are drinking. If I’m on my own it does. White wine is sometimes better on day 2. Red wine…almost never, for me. I find some aspects may be improved, but the stale elements that enter in outweigh the improvements.
In my experience, I have found that many German wines (esp. sweeter one) hold better in the frig opened than do other wines. Would be interested if that is the experience of others.
Exactly my experience - I’ve definitely experienced the ‘better on day 2’ scenario many times, but only with wines that were very robust and/or needed serious amounts of air. I often find more delicate red wines (old world style Pinot for example) slightly disappointing on day 2, even vacuum plugged or refrigerated. Same with many aged wines. I only go to day 3 or more if I don’t care much about that particular bottle. So, 3+ days only make sense to me if no oxygen can get to it.
German riesling hold amazingly well in the fridge. When I visited Martin Mullen a couple years ago he pulled out a 1993 Wolfer Goldgrube auslese, half-full bottle, that had been sitting in the fridge for a month. Wine was still fresh, bright, and complex.
Since I like to alternate red and white, and Laura drinks little if anything during the week, a bottle takes 3 nights to be finished. As long as I pop them in the fridge, and they are not older, that works fine. Older bottles are where I “force” myself to finish them.
I agree w/ this. People so often talk about a wine that is “better on day 2.” But I’m honestly not sure I can think of a wine that I preferred after the first day. It may be because freshness is something I very much value in a wine (and even older wines can show great freshness on day 1, but pretty much never on day 2).
All of that said, weeknight wines often make it 2 days in the Caughey household, as I often want just a glass or two with dinner.
Thanks for the responses. It’s really interesting to see the different ranges. I agree Sarah that there is a difference in red and white for me. Some reds will taste similar if not smoother the next day, but the lighter taste or stale elements do typically make reds not as exciting the next day. Drinkable for sure, but not as exciting most times. However, I don’t use any air tight stoppers or anything so that is probably something I need to invest in. Thanks for reminding me Bradley and also welcome to the boards!
I think you are right Howard. I have found that German Rieslings taste just as good and sometimes better the next day (depending on producer, vintage, etc) much more so than Reds. I typically drink california cabs and Oregon/Washington Pinots so I don’t really know how French wines do on day two.
That’s awesome. I too have found that, but have a small sample size. I know if Brian says it about German Riesling than I can trust it. Thanks for sharing.
We generally have a couple of bottles open all the time. Usually a rose’ or sparkler and a red. Some reds seem to open more on day 2 especially if they are younger. Everything goes into the fridge until the next day.
Since I am the only drinker in the household, a bottle lasts me 3 days. I was leaving it out with the rubber stopper in and the results on day 2/3 were OK but not as good as day 1. I just recently started putting it in the fridge to keep and I am finding my day 2/3 experience to be slightly more favorable. Easy enough to do so why not?