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stupidly kept white wine in fridge for 5 weeks (unopened)

117 replies

hotandwanttoswim · 25/10/2023 22:16

I don't usually drink wine but was gifted a nice bottle of white and put it in the fridge unopened about 5 weeks ago. I have guests coming on Friday eve and was going to get the wine out but realised wine should have only been put in the fridge 1-2 days in advance of drinking. Will the wine be ok to serve? As I don't usually drink wine I'm worried I won;t notice if the flavour has been impaired but my guests might. It has a cork and has been stored on a shelf on its side.
Shall I risk it or buy another bottle?

OP posts:
mooneigh · 27/10/2023 08:33

From your original post it sounds like the bottle has not been opened (factory sealed and never been opened). In that case it will be fine, wine lasts for years.
It is only when opened that it needs to be consumed in a certain amount of time as can go off.

If it has been opened it will be so acidic it would not be drinkable.
If it has not been opened, it will be fine, so enjoy.

Emotionalsupportviper · 27/10/2023 09:15

I think the 1-2 days is probably a suggestion of minimum time, to allow it to cool down enough to be enjoyable - I keep white wine in the fridge and never have a problem.

darksoya · 27/10/2023 09:32

I've never heard anyone saying/thinking this before. Why do I have a wine fridge?

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DiscoBeat · 27/10/2023 09:32

I've never been in the position of having wine in the fridge too long 🤭 but it will be perfectly fine.

akkakk · 27/10/2023 10:46

Most white wines are made to be drunk as young vintages.
Some white wines will age in the bottle and improve in 'tertiary' characteristics - where the wine develops lots of more complex flavours and scents. These tend to be certain types of wine and not necessarily a reflection on their price, though they may well be more expensive wines... white burgundy / reisling / dessert wines such as sauternes / tokaji / etc.

the 'normal' bottles of white wine which tend to be bought and drunk quite rapidly will be your standard chardonnay / sauv. blanc / etc. Generally if you have a white wine which ages well you will know - probably because you will have deliberately bought such a wine - and they can age a long time - I have a bottle of 1906 Tokaji in storage waiting to be drunk at some point - and quite a bit of sauternes which is 15-20 years old now.

Once you know whether the wine is drink soon v. lay down to drink later - storage is quite simple: keep it settled on its side so that the cork remains wet and at temperature as consistent as possible ideally around 12deg. Celsius. Wine will be fine up into the low 20s and down lower as long as above freezing - but prefers 'cellar temperature' which is around 12-15 degrees. Lots of people successfully store wine under the stairs / in a cupboard / in a garage (as long as it doesn't go below freezing) - those who have expensive collections may store them in a specific wine storage fridge (different to a drinks fridge) which keeps it at cellar temperature, and where the compressor is silent and doesn't vibrate - they tend to be c. £1,000+ to buy so you would know if you have one... or they build passive or active cellars to house their wine - passive is where the walls are insulated to get consistent temperatures - active is where there is an air conditioning unit which maintains the temperature in the room...

If you have a normal fridge it will store at about 5 degrees - a drinks fridge at about 8 degrees - both of those are within normal range, so there is no issue in storing white wine (or red) in those temperatures - however, if you can find a space in the house which is under 20 degrees consistently you can as easily keep the wine there and it saves on fridge space!

So having decided the type of wine and how to store it - how do you drink it...
different wines should be served at different temperatures - red a bit warmer than white - though not modern room temperature, but room temperature from the days before central heating! White should be cooler - but not so cold that you can't taste it! Warmer temperatures will open up the wine a bit more and colder will close it down a bit more - you can therefore adjust temperatures to suit if you have a wine that is a bit young / harsh - serve it colder (works for both white and red!) Equally - it is as valid to serve to suit the scenario - sitting outside on a hot day you might want a more chilled white / rose - inside in the winter a warmer red might make more sense - there is no fixed rule... very well explained here: https://www.thewinesociety.com/discover/wine-basics/serve-store-taste/does-serving-temperature-matter

So:

  • wine being bought to drink / lay down?
  • think about how it is stored
  • think about how it is served

standard whites - buy to drink / store at cool room temperature - but no issue if stored in a fridge - just wastes space if you don't need to / serve at fridge to just above temperatures...

other wines you need to take a different approach - note that red wines can be more complex in terms of storage as they are often designed to be layed down to improve and so might have a drinking window when young, then shut down for 5-10 years and then start to re-open, so you have to know your wines - something like a Musar (Lebanese and phenomenal - one of the few affordable top 100 wines in the world) is not even sold until it has been stored for 5-10 years and then can do with 20+ years being layed down - and then when opened could be opened even days in advance of drinking - a whole different world to white wines!

TLDR - no issues storing white wine in a fridge!

Does Serving Temperature Matter For Wine? | The Wine Society

Marcel Orford-Williams breaks down each of the wine types and gives his expert opinion on the right serving temperatures.

https://www.thewinesociety.com/discover/wine-basics/serve-store-taste/does-serving-temperature-matter

hotandwanttoswim · 27/10/2023 16:48

phew

OP posts:
Sennelier1 · 27/10/2023 19:05

We usually have several bottles of white and rosé in the fridge, they are replaced regularly but some might stay in for several months. Never been a problem. You might want to serve the wine nót straight from the fridge, like maybe open it half an hour in advance and place the bottle in an earthen cooler. Your wine will be at the exact temperature then!

Proudbitch · 28/10/2023 07:13

Haha!! I was thinking exactly the same 😂😂😂

DoorPath · 28/10/2023 07:43

You've misunderstood. Wine should be put in the fridge at least 1-2 days before serving, not only for 1-2 days! It's shocking how many PPs have read the OP and gone, "Ooh, I didn't know that!" - use your heads!

OP, you will likely need more than one bottle of wine for the guests, so buy another.

Namenotimportant85 · 28/10/2023 17:52

It will be fine. I keep all my white in a wine fridge and some jammy reds in the fridge too. Honestly don’t worry it will be fine. Wine fridges wouldn’t exist if it made wine bad

ScartlettSole · 28/10/2023 21:46

MrsRobinsonsHandprints · 25/10/2023 22:32

I'd say one bottle isn't enough

Yes! Get 3 more just incase. Better to be safe than sober 👍

Mitchlou84 · 29/10/2023 20:03

How many guests are coming? You’re gonna need more wine

Sadforcavtoo · 29/10/2023 20:08

macshoto · 25/10/2023 22:45

Very unlikely to be a problem, unless you are in the habit of keeping really stinky food in your fridge - and even then, this relatively short period is unlikely to be a problem.

Biggest thing will be making sure you let it warm up a bit and don't serve it at fridge temperature. Serving good white wine fridge cold removes most of the flavour - unless it's champagne, let it come up from 4C to about 12C for serving.

Oooh yuk no. Warm wine is minging

macshoto · 29/10/2023 20:16

@Sadforcavtoo 12C is not warm.

White wine should be served at cellar temperature - somewhere between 8-12C. That way you can taste the flavours in the wine. If you serve it fridge cold all you get is acidity and alcohol - which is (maybe) OK for wines you don't want to taste - but a real shame for good wines.

www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2022/april/26/ideal-serving-temperatures-and-top-tips-for-wine-storage/

Eskimal · 29/10/2023 20:32

Either a troll or lacking intelligence. What happens in cold countries? What happens whilst it’s exported around the world in container ships? How about people who store in cellars? Do these places never get cold?

Bamboobzled · 30/10/2023 15:46

Worked In bars for years, the wine was all kept in chilled cellars or large wine fridges. It will be absolutely fine. I wish I only had this time of worry lol.

Maraudingmarauders · 31/10/2023 03:20

JudgeJ · 26/10/2023 10:51

I recall being told by a well-informed friend that white wine shouldn't be kept more than 5 years, nothing to do with the fridge, unless it's the very very expensive stuff. Reds can be kept much longer.

It's not the value of the wine specifically- it's the make up of it. Some whites can take aging and are designed to embrace the flavours that come with age and oxidisation. Others are made and designed around the fresher and younger flavours. Often those designed for aging cost more, because they are more complex and often made by better winemakers, or they've had more put into the process such as already being barrel aged before they are bottled. But you could keep a relatively cheap bottle of chardonnay, for example, for quite a few years and find you get a decent (if different profile) drink at the end of it because the grape can carry the tertiary characteristics which come with aging. Whereas as pilot grigio of the same price point would lose the freshness it is appreciated for and won't be able to back it up with more complex flavours. So same price point but one can age and another can't.

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