What do you do with bad wine?

Let's face it, wine is expensive. When I used to drink beer, I could get a large beautiful bottle of Belgian Ale made lovingly by monks using indiginous yeasts complete with a champagne style cork for $7 or so. Now I have to spend $10-$15 to get an OK bottle of wine and a lot more to get something really special. That's the way it is. We all know that. But what do you do when you get a lousy bottle? I don't mean corked or ruined, I just mean a bottle you really don't like. I've finished many a bottle I didn't like all that much that I still considered tolerable, but occasionally I get one I don't even want to finish. If you love wine, that's bad, and there's no point in drinking something you really don't like just because you paid for it. Several of my sources have encouraged me to return them to the store for an exchange, and I have done that more than once, but I do feel a bit guilty doing it if the wine isn't flawed and I just don't care for it. An obvious solution is to cook with it, but I often don't get around to that before it turns. What do you do?

Hi Bob,

I've been in that situation a few times and depending on the wine (if it doesn't have too much oak or tannins) I will cook with it. I know you said you don't always get around to it, so you can throw the rest of the wine in ice cube trays in freeze it into small servings to use at a later date. (Once the wine is frozen into cubes, transfer them into a ziplock bag, mark the date and what kind of wine it is.) My other suggestion would be a sangaria or some other kind of wine "cocktail". I probably wouldn't return it, but that is just how I am.

btw, welcome to the forum...this is a wonderful place, lots of nice and knowledgeable people here!

Even if it's not thrilling, I'll drink it as long as I'm learning something. But, once that is gone, I'll cook with it.

I cook every night, so, it usually doesn't take that long to use it up.

However, in recent years, I pretty much only consume wine on the weekend. So, with that in mind, I am much less tolerant of "bad" bottles as you describe. So, I am much more vigilant about which wines I select for purchase.

When I first started drinking wine, I would open a bottle every night. And, in that situation it was much less annoying if I didn't like something.

"Good wine and bad wine have the same number of calories."

If Janet doesn't want it, down the drain.

If I really didn't like it to drink, I won't put it in my food either. Not saying that it would ruin a dish or anything, but psychologically it's better for me to dump it than purposely ingest something I didn't like in whatever form. I can justify "wasting" the money easier than I can justify doing something unpleasant to myself on purpose!

Bob,

Life's too short to drink a wine you don't like. Len Evans, the great Australian wine writer, personality, etc.,famously said that since you only have a fixed number of wine drinking "events" in your life, every bad bottle you drink is the same as destroying a good bottle.

"so you can throw the rest of the wine in ice cube trays in freeze it into small servings to use at a later date. (Once the wine is frozen into cubes, transfer them into a ziplock bag, mark the date and what kind of wine it is.)"

Fantastic suggestion Maria, thanks. Have you ever made a wine reduction?

"If I really didn't like it to drink, I won't put it in my food either."

This has always been the conventional wisdom - don't cook with anything you wouldn't drink. It turns out this is probably wrong. Julia Moskin writing in the New York Times disproves this rather convincingly. It turns out the only wine not to cook with is "cooking wine". Here's a link to her article: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.h ... ine&st=nyt
She cooks with a number of wines, some she likes and others she doesn't, and discovers that, "cooking is a great equalizer." Bon Appetit!

We save for cooking. If a red wine won't be used for cooking within a day or two, into the vinegar crock! Betsy says she can't imagine using commercial wine vinegar after getting used to the good stuff.

Some tips
http://www.gangofpour.com/diversions/vi ... egar1.html

She cooks with a number of wines, some she likes and others she doesn't, and discovers that, "cooking is a great equalizer."

Oh, I am aware of that, but that's not why I don't do it. It really is a way for me to reinforce a principle in my life I need to work on. I am such a work in progress.

I sometimes keep a takeout tupperware in the freezer that I dump red wine into for later use in cooking.

By the way, I've had Dale's red wine vinegar and it's good stuff.

Fantastic suggestion Maria, thanks. Have you ever made a wine reduction?

Thanks Bob. And yes, I do make wine reductions, but I prefer to used a fortified wine for a reduction such as a sherry, madeira, or port. I have used merlot or cab sauv.for that, but it is rare, and for a reduction where the main ingredient is the wine, I found that I need to use a wine that I really like.

I use the freezer wine cubes mainly for tomato sauces, stews, soups, or other sauces, where the wine doesn't need to shine, but only enhance, brighten, or add an additional layer of flavor. I have to say, that in those applications I have never been able to tell the difference between using a good wine or a bad wine. I hate to waste anything, and like you said, wine is expensive. Interesting article, btw...thanks for posting it.

Dale - great idea about the vinegar...I will have to try it some time!

I belong to the "throw it out" group. And I try to never buy that one again. Life is just too short.

Glenn