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Does wine left in the fridge more than the recommended time of up to a week (?) before it goes "off" go bad in terms of bacterial or mold overgrowth? Or is it safe to drink but just doesn't taste as good? I don't know if wine is as acidic as vinegar. And how long is really too long food safety-wise? I would probably just cook with it. I don't mind if it's vinegary, just asking from a food safety perspective. I hope this question is not too much like this one. Can wine gone bad be bad for you?

padma
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Dos wine can go bad? It can't have mold (because alcohol), it's shouldn't have any EXTRA bacteria (because of alcohol).
In fact - the bacteria that turn vine into vinegar is acetobacter. So spotting that one in the brew is pretty easy. You start to have acid.

Wine (depending on type of course) is pretty safe to store for a long time. That's the added value to it. You store wine for 200 years and cash a fat check afterwards. The "best before after opening and store in fridge" date is usually there for two reasons:

  1. The cork is not real one. And the alcohol will start to reacts with it.
  2. The wine was made in such manner that the yeast didn't die (so not enough alcohol content and with that extra air after opening they will start to digest carbs again).

What can change the taste of wine is storage type. Like in the answer you provided. Bad storage will lead to bad wine. Or not bad WINE but some bad liquid.

SZCZERZO KŁY
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In general, if an ingredient, wine, meat, fruit or vegetable does not taste good, don't use it for cooking.

Wine will oxidize.

This is one of the reason wine go bad, at least for drinking; and if you cannot drink it, you don't cook with it.

Not because it might be "bad" for me, but because it will not taste good and will ruin any dish that will use it.

If you want to keep the wine from going bad, you have a few options.

  1. just remove the air from the bottle
  2. remove the air an replace it with a neutral gas (argon or nitrogen)
  3. freeze it (use a ice cube tray, and store in plastic bags.
Max
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  • Thank you @Max. Some people might think sour or vinegary wine tastes bad because they value fine-tasting wine. I'm wondering about whether wine actually goes bad or rotten. I can handle sour/vinegary but don't want to drink it if it's dangerous to but I also don't want to waste it. (It's almost two weeks old). I will buy an ice cube tray for the next bottle of wine I buy and can't finish quickly. – padma May 28 '18 at 04:08
  • For removing air there is a "wine air pressurizer" you can buy, it's cheap too. Freezing wine arguable lessens the wine so preferable just remove the air and refrigerate it. – Jade So May 28 '18 at 05:05
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    There's people that *intentionally* put vinegar in their food :) – rackandboneman May 28 '18 at 18:00
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    @rackandboneman vinegar is different than bad wine. – Max May 28 '18 at 18:34
  • @padma I would not use bad wine in a recipe, as I would not use rotten food. – Max May 28 '18 at 18:35