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**Ribber** · August 17, 2016, 10:20 AM

Check out eatbydate.com under the Drinks section.

**MBMorgan** · August 17, 2016, 10:48 AM

First of all, that stuff you're grandma was cooking with was probably what is known today as "wine product" ... a very salty, acidic, low-alcohol (or a grocer couldn't sell it without a liquor license) concoction of stuff intended to taste a little like some kind of generic "wine" and (thanks to all that salt) have a very long shelf life.

An open bottle of wine does indeed go bad after a week (or more, depending on the wine and how cold your refrigerator is) ... and there's really no easy way around that fact unless you invest in the gear you'd need to drive oxygen out of the bottle before corking and refrigerating ... hardly worth it for the inexpensive wines you're likely to cook with.

FWIW, I think that it's true that you should cook with wine that you can stand to drink ... but you don't have to cook with anything fancy or even with the same wine you're serving with your meal. My personal preference is to get an inexpensive bottle (less than $10) that will get the job done without breaking the bank and without making me feel guilty if I have to throw half of it out. For white wine, I like something mild like a Riesling (if I need a bit of sweetness) or Sauvignon Blanc (if I'm looking for a bit of acidity). For reds, I generally go with something fairly fruity but without a lot of tart tannins ... like a Malbec, Merlot, or Pinot Noir.

I recently read an article recommending that box wine (they're getting better than they used to be) be considered for cooking because they're designed to have a much longer shelf life than an opened bottle.

**CurlingDog** · August 17, 2016, 10:59 AM

I always recommend that you cook with the wine that you will be drinking with the meal, regardless of cost. If you have any leftover wine after the meal, that's a shame

but it will be fine if you consume it within the next few days.

Instead of marinating those buxom chicken breasts, have you considered a white wine injection?

**Mitrakas** · August 17, 2016, 06:42 PM

MBMorgan, the box wine idea for cooking wine makes a lot of sense, esp if you are cooking with a lot of wine. Shelf life would be much longer. Also want to avoid cooking with oaked wines, I find they translate bitter flavors. If you are going to just add 1/4 or 1/2 cup to a recipe, are usually better off opening a nice unoaked white and drinking the rest and the match with the food is that much better.

**ecowper** · August 17, 2016, 07:12 PM

By go bad, what we mean is that the wine oxidizes. That causes it to have lower alcohol, tannins and acids ... Basically all the stuff that makes wine what it is. I don't consider myself a "wine snob", but I will be honest ... Wine just doesn't taste the same after being open for any length of time. In fact, it begins to change immediately after opening. Usually, for the first few hours, in a good way. Then, during day two, it starts to get flat. And in day 3 it is like grape juice with some alcohol in it.

It's like a soda ... Think of how it changes once it is opened. Loses carbonation, loses structure, ends up tasting very flat and moderately sugary. Would you drink a coca-cola that had been open for 2 days?

All the things that make a wine a great thing to add to a marinade are lost once it's been open for 48 hours. And it's a lot more expensive than coca-cola.

My approach to this is that I buy a wine I enjoy drinking, I use it in my marinade, and I drink the rest with my dinner. Win-win

**ecowper** · August 17, 2016, 07:37 PM

LifebyC also wanted to comment on storing reds ... This really depends on what you intend to do with these wines. There's two significant options when it comes to storing wine

1. You intend to buy wines that you like and drink them in some finite time period. I would say, generally, that these are wines in the range of $15-$100 a bottle, you enjoy drinking them, and you plan to drink them within 24 hours to 24 months of purchase. In this scenario, I recommend you buy a reasonable priced wine rack, keep them in your house and the temperature variable isn't a huge deal. Certainly, you will not notice the difference over that 24 hour to 24 month time period I described.

2. You intend to buy wines that you think you may like and maintain them over a period of time to allow them to age. You want to keep these wines available for you and your friends to enjoy over time. You plan to drink them over a 2 year to 2 decade time period. In this scenario, I recommend professional grade wine storage. Either built into your home (expensive) or at a facility that will provide professional wine storage for a monthly fee (moderate cost). I have purchased wine storage for 12 cases of wine from a local storage facility for about $35/month. This is really good for climate controlled wine racks.

I suspect you are in camp #1. Buy a $30 wine rack, keep your wine handy, don't worry about it too much, and enjoy it! That's my rule of thumb :-)

**Potkettleblack** · August 17, 2016, 10:42 PM

Okay, so every "chef" on tv tells you to only cook with wine you'd drink. Every line cook and working person in top restaurants tells you that they use franzia or some other cheap wine.

Reasons: you're cooking with it or adding stuff to it, so you're not looking for a structured wine or a wine with a solid nose and balanced alcohol. You really don't care about the alcohol in reductions because you're cooking the alcohol off. In marinades, you are doing other horrible things to the wine, like adding aromatics or additional acid. You don't care about tannins, because your cooking them off, as well.

So, what I have are wines in boxes. I would be pretty desperate before I drank from one of my boxes of wine that I cook with. And they sit in the fridge with their plastic screw cap screwed on tight, and they're fine. And they cost like 3-5 bucks for 500 ml (aka 2/3rds a bottle).

When you think about a recipe like coq au vin or beef bourginon, that has something like 750 ml of wine, you're really gonna buy a $20 bottle just to stew a chicken for three hours? Really? Too rich for my blood and I'm on my third sous vide machine.

**LifebyC** · August 18, 2016, 11:15 AM

Thank you all so much for the advice!

I am going to:

Buy a BOX of Chardonnay and keep it in the fridge. I use it in several marinades for meals where I'm not drinking alcohol.
I'll keep an eye (tongue) on the flavor. I've heard from several folks that boxed wine lasts much much longer. Thanks, guys.

I'm going to buy a NICER chardonnay for cooking when my guests and I WILL be drinking white wine, and drink the rest of the bottle with the meal.

My REDS are, indeed, in the "drink within a year or two" camp - they vary from $15 California blends to a couple of really nice Cabs to two bottles of Opus One. I'll make sure they are enjoyed before they sit in a non-temperature controlled environment for too long.

I LOVE the PIT!

**Ribber** · August 18, 2016, 07:50 PM

There has been a lot of good advice. FWIW, maybe you would like to consider one other option. My wife likes to buy these 4-packs of 1-glass bottles of Sutter Home Pinot Grigio. It's hardly expensive but she likes them. So you are not opening a whole bottle of wine. Just open 1 small bottle for a cook and keep the rest unopened and fresh until next time.

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Wine in marinades, storing thereof

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