How Do You Tell If Wine's Gone Off?

Wine gone bad will often taste something like soggy cardboard, and when the wine takes on this peculiar taste, it is usually referred to as "corked." If a bottle of wine is opened, not properly sealed and left out for more than a day, you may also find that its smell resembles that of vinegar.

Although simply smelling a bottle of wine remains the best way to find out if it has gone bad, there are other symptoms of "corked," or "cooked" wine. If you pour a glass of either red or white wine and you notice a brown rim around the inside of your glass, this should serve as a good indication of a problem with your wine. Also, do look out for wine that appears to be cloudy when poured into a clear glass.

If you cannot finish a bottle of wine, it is very important to always re-cork it and store it in a fridge. As a general rule, do not keep an opened bottle of wine, even if it is chilled, for more than about one week, as you may notice that the wine's taste and aroma will become dull and eventually unpleasant. Some people would not actually venture to keep the wine in the fridge for a week, but only for a period of three or four days.

If you have left-over wine and it has been sitting in your fridge for a few days, a nice idea is to pour it into a cup of hot lemon tea. Just use regular English tea, lemon juice instead of cream, sugar and your wine, which will make the tea taste better, even if the  flavour is no longer as strong as when the bottle was first opened.

You can tell if wine has gone off by simply tasting it. If it tastes a little bitter then it has gone off. It will also feel a little drier as well.