story published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 11/22/18
If you do
Thanksgiving right, it’s not just edible leftovers you’ll be enjoying
the days after. The cavalcade of flavors om your table means you’ll popping a lot of
corks, too – a wide range of wines to match a wide range of foods. And while
Tupperware and aluminum foil works well when it comes to saving turkey, mashed
potatoes and cranberry sauce for Friday’s overstuffed sandwiches, keeping your
wines alive requires a bit more planning. Here are 10 easy ways to help
preserve a few splashes for the foraging that’s just hours away...
1)Go Young: “Many older wines will lose their freshness, delicacy, and
nuances overnight,” Riverbench GM Laura Booras once told me, “so it’s best to
finish them the night you open them.” So if you’re choosing between which wine
to finish tonight and which one to save for tomorrow, save the younger one for
Friday’s lunch.
2)Go
Big: Finish off lower-alcohol
wines first; alcohol’s preservative qualities mean higher-alcohol wines have a
better chance of surviving through tomorrow. Same goes for higher-tannins
wines, like cabernets, malbecs and nebbiolos. Late harvest, fortified and port
wines are good overnight bets, too.
3)Decant,
Then Drink: Booras also
told me that decanted wines have a shorter shelf life. “The surface area has
been more exposed, so it’s going to oxidize and age much more quickly,” she
said. So finish the wines you decant first and put the cork (or screw the cap)
back on the ones you didn’t.
4)Don’t
Go To Extremes: Temperature will have an even greater effect on wines that
have been opened, so avoid sunlight through the window or the trunk of your car
in the middle of the day. Avoiding temperature changes will do your wine good.
5)Take
a Stand: Keep tomorrow’s wines standing up, rather than on their side.
Remember that lesson from high school chemistry? A bottle on its side will result
in maximum wine exposure to oxygen, wine’s great nemesis.
6)Screw
it: If you’re not good at re-corking a bottle of wine, buy screwcapped
wines. instead. A well-sealed screwcap is a very effective way of preserving
wine for 24 hours.
7)No
Off Sides: Saving your wine by sticking the cork back in? “Put in the same
end that was touching the wine first,” says sommelier Jon McDaniel. And he
knows what he’s talking about: McDaniel, who managed the Wine Merchant at the
Los Olivos Café before he took the Chicago dining scene by storm, made Wine
Enthusiast’s “40 Under 40 Tastemaker” list last year. “I have seen corks that
didn't taint the wine with TCA (a bacteria that will 'cork' the wine)
initially. But when you put in the other end of the cork first, you
can come back the next day and have a corked or spoiled wine. So
even though the cork will expand a bit, try and put the wet end of the cork
back in first.”
8)Blend
It: A bottle that’s full is least likely to spoil, since you’re minimizing
the wine’s contact with oxygen. So don’t be coy about filling a bottle or two
with your wine leftovers and create your own special Thanksgiving blend for the
next day. You’re not a winemaker. You’re not trying to win an award. You’re
just being prudent.
9)Chill Out: My friend Stephanie Varner,
who manages the tasting room at Rusack Vineyards once gave me the most creative
advice for giving your Thanksgiving leftover wine a new lease on life: “Make
ice cubes!” The possibilities tomorrow and beyond are endless.
10)Be Done With It: This is the only
advice we heed at our house. Don’t want to deal with preserving leftovers?
Don’t have any to begin with! Drink up. Drink responsibly. But drink up!
Happy
Thanksgiving!
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