How Long Does Wine Last After Opening? A Guide by Style

Most wine lasts about three to five days after opening if you put the cork back in and keep it cool. Sparkling wine fades faster, in one to three days, while fortified wines such as Port keep for weeks and boxed wine for a few weeks. These are the windows in which a wine still tastes the way it should. After that it isn’t dangerous, just flat, stale or sour. Here is the timeline for each style, how to store leftovers and how to tell when a bottle is past it.

How long each style lasts after opening

Wine style	How long it lasts once opened	How to store it
Sparkling (Prosecco, Champagne, Cava)	1–3 days	Fridge, with a sparkling wine stopper
Light white, sweet white and rosé	5–7 days	Fridge, recorked
Full-bodied white (oaked Chardonnay, Viognier)	3–5 days	Fridge, recorked
Red	3–5 days	Recorked, somewhere cool (the fridge is fine)
Port and most other Sherries	About 28 days (Wine Folly’s figure)	Recorked, cool and dark
Fino and Manzanilla Sherry	Up to a week, according to the Sherry Consejo Regulador	Fridge, tightly corked
Madeira and Marsala	Indefinitely, according to Wine Folly	Recorked, cool and dark
Boxed wine (bag-in-box)	2–3 weeks, up to 6 weeks by some brands’ claims	Fridge, tap closed

The day ranges come from Wine Folly’s guide, except where the table says otherwise. Wine Spectator’s Dr. Vinny agrees on three to five days for an opened red, “possibly longer”.

Why the numbers vary

Sources don’t all give the same figures, and that’s not surprising. How long a wine lasts depends on the wine, how you store it and how sensitive you are to the changes. Dr. Vinny points out that most wines lose their youthful fruit flavors within a day or two, even if they stay perfectly drinkable for several more. He also says bolder, younger wines last longer than delicate or older ones, and that higher acidity or sweetness extends a wine’s life. Wine Folly adds that reds with more tannin (the grippy, drying compound from grape skins and seeds) and acidity hold up longer.

In our view, the ranges above are a sensible guide for an everyday bottle stored well. An old, fragile wine may be best finished the same evening.

Red wine

An opened red usually keeps three to five days. Dr. Vinny recommends recorking it and putting it in the fridge, red or not, because cold slows oxidation, the reaction with air that makes wine taste nutty and dull. Wine Folly says a cool, dark spot or a wine fridge works, and that a regular fridge beats a 70°F room.

Take the bottle out a little before you pour. If it’s still too cold, Dr. Vinny suggests cupping the glass in your hands to warm it.

White and rosé

Light whites, sweet whites and rosé are among the longest-lasting still wines once opened: five to seven days in the fridge, recorked, according to Wine Folly. Fuller whites such as oaked Chardonnay or Viognier have a shorter window of three to five days. Wine Folly notes that whites and rosés can lose their fruit character before they become unpleasant, so they may taste a little dull a few days in even if nothing is wrong.

Sparkling wine

Sparkling wine loses its bubbles fast. Wine Folly gives it one to three days in the fridge with a proper sparkling wine stopper. Since that window assumes a stopper, it’s the one accessory we’d say every bubbly drinker should own: a sparkling wine stopper. If you’re shopping for a bottle, see our best Prosecco under $20.

Fortified and dessert wine

Fortified wines have grape spirit added during production, and they last far longer once opened than table wines. Wine Folly gives Port and Sherry about 28 days in a cool, dark place with the cork in, and says Madeira and Marsala keep indefinitely because they are already oxidized during production. The lightest Sherries are the exception: the Consejo Regulador, the official body for Sherry, says Fino and Manzanilla keep up to a week once opened, tightly corked and always in the fridge. For dessert wines, Wine Folly’s rule of thumb is that the sweeter the wine, the longer it lasts open. Heat and light speed up the decline of fortified wines, so keep them out of a sunny cabinet. For more on why these wines are so strong, see our guide to high alcohol wine.

Boxed wine

This is where sources disagree most. Wine Folly gives bag-in-box wine two to three weeks in the fridge and advises against keeping it past a month. Some brands claim more: a Whole Foods listing for Black Box Chardonnay says it “stays fresh for 6 weeks after opening”. We’d treat the brand figure as a best case and the shorter range as a safe plan. Our guide to the best box wine compares the main brands.

How to store opened wine

1. Recork it straight away. Use the original cork or screw cap, or a stopper, to limit further oxidation.
2. Refrigerate it, whatever the color. Cold slows oxidation.
3. Move it to a smaller bottle. Dr. Vinny suggests pouring leftovers into a smaller bottle so less air sits on top of the wine.
4. Consider inert gas. Dr. Vinny suggests an inert gas such as argon as an alternative to vacuum pumps. It is sold in small cans as argon wine preserver spray.
5. Go easy on expectations for vacuum pumps. Dr. Vinny has “mixed feelings” about them: he says they often don’t remove all the oxygen, can leak and may pull aroma out of the wine. If you buy a vacuum wine stopper, we’d treat it as a reseal for a day or two, not a way to keep wine for weeks. Dr. Vinny says that whatever method you use, you probably won’t get more than two to three days of extra life from an opened bottle.

Tip: If you often keep bottles open longer than a few days, Dr. Vinny suggests looking at a preservation system such as the Coravin.

Signs your wine has gone off

• It smells of vinegar. Wine Folly explains that acetic acid bacteria turn wine sharp and vinegary.
• It tastes nutty, flat or like bruised fruit. That’s oxidation stripping away the fresh fruit.
• The color has changed. Dr. Vinny says oxidation can turn wine toward brown and brick tones.
• It simply tastes dull. Whites and rosés can lose their fruit before they turn properly bad.

Our guide to why wine tastes sour explains these faults in more detail.

Is it safe to drink old opened wine?

As far as the sources go, yes. Dr. Vinny says an oxidized wine “won’t make you sick, it will just taste unpleasant”. Wine Folly says wine that has turned is essentially vinegar, so it isn’t harmful, though it won’t taste good. Oxygen also doesn’t change the alcohol content, which was fixed during fermentation, according to Dr. Vinny.

Note: These sources are about wine you opened and stored normally. If anything looks wrong beyond normal aging, such as mold or unexpected fizz in a still wine, don’t drink it.

We’d rather cook with or pour away a tired wine than serve it. For more guides to storage, serving and wine faults, browse Wine Basics.