Hello Guys
Ok, I opened a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, I tought it was quite strong and acidic. I didnt know what to do with the leftover wine so I put the cork back and left it on the shelf. Later I read a bit of info about wines and proper storage, some people say that yu shoul left them in the fridge others say you should put on the self if it is a red wine... so I am a bit confused about this. The other thing is, I tasted the wine 24 hours later and the taste was completely different, even the smell was different, the acid taste was gone and I felt almost no alcohol on it, that was trhee days ago, today I drank the rest of the bottle, it was almost sweet.... I dont really understand the full process and what do I have to do next time I open a bottle.
Thank you for your patience. =)

What is this "leftovers" of which you speak? And why would you want to store them?

Inquiring minds....

Allan,

If you're still around, you're fine putting many wines on a shelf for a couple of days. Makes no difference red or white. The taste will probably change, but it shouldn't spoil. Try to keep it out of the sunlight and from getting too warm. If you want, put it in a refrigerator for a week or so. Any longer? Try freezing it. Make sure you've removed at least a glassful from the bottle, recork, and pop in the freezer for a month or so. When you thaw it, you'll have some crystals that have formed in the bottle. Just strain those out and enjoy.

People decant young, intense, structured wines for hours to give them air, which helps mellow them out. The changes are similar (but not the same) as aging the wine. So, wines like that can handle being open for a few days, and may even improve over the first day or two.

It's older or more delicate wines you need to be careful with. They can easily be seriously degraded the next day. Change comes from oxygen exposure, temperature and time. So, refrigeration slows that down dramatically. Freezing stops it, but some flavor components may drop out and you lose some acidity, but most wines will be pretty close.
Other methods would be to pour half the bottle into a 375 ml and cork it, then drink the other half. You can buy a pump that pumps out much of the air. There's also inert gas you can buy at wine shops, to prevent further oxygen exposure. With those later 3 methods, there's still been some oxygen exposure that has acted as a catalyst. So, refrigeration is still recommended.

It doesn't take too long for a refrigerated wine to warm up.

If I'm not going to drink the wine for a few days or more I'll freeze it especially if I'm going out of town. I've had good luck with that otherwise the fridge will retard oxygen exposure for the short term.

Interesting, I never heard anyone freezing wine. I usually use a vacu vin stopper when I'm not going to finish a bottle and throw the bottle back into the wine fridge. But, that has mixed results, and I've reopened plenty of uninteresting wines a few days later. Can you freeze whites and reds? Any other things to consider before throwing a bottle in the freezer -- any chance of freezer burn?

tdubbs,

While I haven't been brave enough to freeze a fragile older wine, I'll pop younger wines in there for a month or two with no problems. You will get tartrate crystals though. They're harmless, don't alter the taste significantly, and are easy to filter off when you thaw the bottle. I've put re-corked glass bottles in there with no problems, provided there's enough removed to allow for expansion (a cup or so is fine). Most wine freezes around 15F degree range, plus or minus a few, depending on alcohol content, so a warm freezer won't cut it.

No problem with whites or reds. I haven't tried a sweet one though (would probably freeze at an even lower temp)

tdubbs, Iv'e never had any freezer burn. They taste just like when they were last opened.

I freeze wines occasionally. However, I do think they become softer, and even flabby with extended time in the freezer.

Also, freezing seems to help backward, very tannic wines. Decant, rebottle, and freeze for a couple of weeks, then defrost, and the wine very likely will be much improved.

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Does anyone know if freezing wines will result in a change in alcohol content? I was told recently at a wine shop that they will get weaker and have a lower alcohol level then before freezing but I'm not sure why that would be true.

Rule number one about wine shops: Never believe what anyone tells you in a wine shop.