Anonymous wrote:I believe a bottle of wine should always be finished!

+1 Finishing one now!

Agree on two days (open monday, okay tuesday, acceptable wednesday) with cork in. I use the vaccum corks and keep it in the fridge (bring back to room temp before drinking) to buy another day or two. Even so, id only drink it myself, wouldnt serve it unless freshly opened.

Anonymous wrote:OP here .... thanks for these pointers. Sorry to be dense. By 2 days, do you mean open Monday, should be OK Tuesday and Wednesday, but not by thursday? Or open Monday, and should be OK Tuesday, but not Wednesday. TIA

Any answers to this?

I believe a bottle of wine should always be finished!

19:19, I think OP meant "with the cork in," as opposed to totally open to the air.

2 days is average but it's highly variable with the wine. I've had some wines that tasted great a week later. That's definitely not the norm, though. I've had others that were shot by the next morning.

Keeping it in the fridge will buy you an extra day, maybe two. But then you've got to let your glass come back to room temperature, unless you like your red wine chilled.

If you really like wine and you're the only one in your household, it may be worth investing in some options for limiting the wine's exposure to air after it's opened. That'll buy you several (1-3) more days:
1. A vacuum pump that pumps the air out of the bottle through a special stopper that keeps it vacuum sealed. (Vacu-Vin is one brand.)
2. An inert gas that comes in a spray can with a straw on the nozzle--you spray the inert gas into the bottle before you put the cork back in. (Wine Saver is one brand.)
3. Small glass decanters that hold either 1/2 or 1/4 of the bottle. You fill the decanter all the way up to the top so there's no air left between the wine surface and the stopper. You can drink your wine 1/4 or 1/2 a bottle at a time and still have an even decanter amount left over. You can find these (or any of this stuff) at wineenthusiast.com. This is what I used to use (until I lost or broke the stoppers); it worked pretty well. I like low-tech solutions.
4. Buy half-bottles. A lot of good wine shops have a good selection of wines available by the half-bottle.

You can store it in the fridge and it will last a little longer. I think 2 days is a good rule of thumb but it also seems to vary with the quality of the wine. Cheap wine changes less than expensive wine.

This is not the same as corked. Corked is when the wine reacts with the cork prior to opening.

OP here .... thanks for these pointers. Sorry to be dense. By 2 days, do you mean open Monday, should be OK Tuesday and Wednesday, but not by thursday? Or open Monday, and should be OK Tuesday, but not Wednesday. TIA

Although I think two days is the norm, I have certainly had some after that time period that was just fine (and good wine often gets better after a day or so). I think it will really depend on the wine and your taste, usually worth a sip before you toss it. But my general rule is not to cook with anything I would not drink.

You can use it in cooking even after it doesn't taste good for drinking.

2 days. Try a wine saver- sucks the air out, lasts about a week tat way.

I'm the only wine drinker in my household. Seems to me a bottle begins to taste not so great after a couple of days. But is it my imaginatin?