I'm Dreaming of a Wine Christmas

I know, I know. Leftover wine? What's that? But if there is one time of year where you're likely to find yourself with a bottle or two of unfinished wine it is now, during the holiday hustle of parties and celebratory dinners. Other than guzzling it on the couch in a post-holiday-shopping stupor (a perfectly legitimate use) we have six more ways to make the most of those half-finished bottles of wine on the counter.

Freeze it.

Pour leftover wine into ice cube trays or muffin tins and freeze it to use in future recipes. Because of the alcohol content, the cubes won't be completely solid, but they are solid enough to pop out to transfer to a freezer-safe container for storage. These are perfect for recipes where you only need a tablespoon or two of wine.

Make wine syrup.

Mix leftover wine with sugar and reduce it to a rich syrup that can be poured over fruit, ice cream, and pancakes, or mixed into marinades and salad dressings.

Make wine jelly.

Take your wine syrup one step further by adding pectin and turning it into wine jelly! It’s just the thing to serve with cheese at your next party.

Make vinegar.

If you don't mind waiting a few months, your leftover wine or Champagne just needs a little time in a dark, cool place to transform into the best vinegar you've ever had.

Use it to flavor salt.

After reducing the leftover wine to syrup, use it to flavor salt.

To wine syrup, add 1 1/2 cups of coarse salt for every tablespoon of wine. The result is a richly flavored salt that makes a perfect seasoning for beef or duck and, when put in a jar with a card, makes a great hostess gift! Besides that, your house will smell amazing as it simmers on the stove, while you curl up on the couch and nurse your hangover.

Cook dinner with it.

A cup or two of leftover wine is all you need to make a comforting winter meal.  Look under the recipe tab for Spaghetti All'Ubriaco

There are a few truths:

1. All wine will live to drink another day at least 24 hours with a cork in it. Most wines will go three days, and richer wines a week, with proper care.
2. Wine will not "go bad" in a way that is unsafe. You will know if it has been kept too long because it won't taste as good. It will have less aroma, taste dull or even sour, but it won't hurt you.
3. The more wine in the bottle, the longer it will last. A bottle with a few inches of wine has more air and thus oxidizes faster. Buy a few of the half bottles that are popular now. After finishing those, save the empties for nights that you don't finish a 750ml bottle. Transfer the remains into the smaller 375ml bottle and it will keep longer.
4. Beyond vacuum and nitrogen devices, simple wine stoppers are essential tools (and perfect gifts). These corks and metal cones, with or without rubber rings, come with ornamental tops from Betty Boop to Christmas trees. Special stoppers for Champagne have wings that clamp around the bottle flanges and will keep the pressure and sparkle for a few days.
5. Sugar and high alcohol are preservatives too, which is why port, sherry, Madeira and dessert wines can last up to a year after being opened.
6. Wine that you don't like won't get better in the refrigerator or a stock pot. Pour it out.