Since I seeking education with these questions, I'm putting it in the Learn Wine section.

Very early in my journey into the pursuit of wine knowledge I was "taught" many of the now debunked "myths." There are good resources which adress this on the Internet. However, I have not found anything that specifically addresses a couple of them.

Can white wine be chilled to serving temperature and then allowed to return to proper storage temperature without harm? We hold and host events in the course of my job where wine is served. The white wine is chilled to serving temperature in preperation and frequently a significant amount is left unopened. At the instruction of my supervisor, I have to take all wine chilled to serving temp and keep it at that temperature until we are ready to serve it again - this can be several weeks to a few months. I'm told that the beer will go flat and wine will go bad if we allow it to return to a good storing temperature (60-65)

Does all wine - especially red - begin to go bad within 3 hours of opening? This I was told by a winemaker of one of the largest wineries in Texas (about 6 years ago). Unfortunately, I think I've wasted a lot of good wine by not keeping it for a day or two. I hear on this forum frequently how the wine was better 2 or three days after opening than when it was first opened. That seems to be backed up by other sources. Does this apply only to certain wines? Do some wine have no ability to last until the next day while others actrually improve?

Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by EagleGrafix:
Can white wine be chilled to serving temperature and then allowed to return to proper storage temperature without harm?

Absolutely. Now if you do this over and over, you're certainly going to hurt the wine. One time, not a shot.

Does all wine - especially red - begin to go bad within 3 hours of opening?

Depends on what you mean by "going bad." Does the process of significant oxidation begin once the bottle is opened? Yes. Will it spoil in hours, or even days? No. Will an older or lesser wine lose its palatability after hours/days? Absolutely. Can some sturdy, young or fortified wines go days or longer while still improving or remaining drinkable. Mais oui!

PH

errrmmmmm... what PH said. Not much more to add other than don't take advice from those people again.