For many Swiss people, it’s hard to imagine an occasion—a celebration with friends or family—without opening a bottle of wine. You may have already experienced this situation: you’d been saving what you thought was a “good bottle” to celebrate an important event, but when you went to taste it, you were in for a (bad) surprise—the wine tasted strange! Whether it has an aroma of overripe fruit, a corked taste, or a vinegary flavor, one thing is certain: it’s not good. If you find yourself in this unfortunate situation, you might be tempted to throw away the bad wine. However, it’s a shame to have to waste an entire bottle; in this article, we’ll show you some ways to salvage this precious liquid!

Why is a wine bad?

There are several situations to distinguish. Wine can sometimes change in taste, or quite simply, a wine may not live up to our expectations due to a problem during production, an issue with the blend, or the quality of the grapes or the soil in which the vines were grown. Oxygen entering the vat during winemaking can also give the wine a bad taste; this can be caused by defective or outdated equipment. Finally, the quality of the cork is often to blame: the cork can deteriorate, become moldy, or rot, which will give the wine a bad taste. Despite the treatments applied to the cork material, this situation occurs quite frequently; this is referred to as “corked wine.”

Be careful not to confuse undesirable oxidation with intentional maderization: a wine is said to be “maderized” to describe a bottle whose cork has deteriorated and allowed air to enter during storage. In this case, it refers to an uncontrolled change in the wine that has altered the balance of its aromas: the color changes (becoming amber for whites and brown for reds), and the taste is reminiscent of overripe fruit or even vinegar, which is not at all pleasant on the palate.

This has nothing to do with Madeira wines or rancios, which undergo controlled oxidation through aging and a process of heating that is often long and slow; these are sweet wines reminiscent of ripe fruit or candied fruit, vanilla, roasted nuts, and cocoa… There are other examples of “good oxidized wines”: for example, sherry, vin jaune, and port.

Sometimes wine can also become “reduced”: in this case, the wine did not receive enough oxygen during winemaking. This phenomenon results in a rubbery taste that is unpleasant on the palate.

What are some ways to “save” a bad wine?

Is your wine bad? Before opening a new bottle, read the tips below. They may help you salvage your wine and make it drinkable again.

If the wine has reduced, you can decant it: pour the contents of the bottle into a glass decanter to let it breathe for one or more hours. This usually helps restore the wine. However, if you don’t have time to wait, you can speed up the oxidation process by placing a silver object in your decanter. The chemical reaction will quickly make a reduced wine drinkable again.

Another way to salvage wine is to add a little port to it; this will mellow the rancid taste of the stale wine, making it a bit sweeter and more palatable. This old-fashioned remedy gives your bad wine a new lease on life and adds the touch of alcohol it was missing. On the palate, the taste will be similar to that of mulled wine.

It basically comes down to using wine in a cocktail! In this regard, there are other combinations that can help you enjoy wine that’s past its prime or just so-so. For a refreshing cocktail, we recommend mixing your wine with sparkling water, lemon juice, and sugar—or lemonade. This cocktail lets you add water to your wine to make it fresh and light—but above all, enjoyable to drink!

If a wine has a corked taste and the aroma is strong, there’s no way to make it drinkable as is: forcing yourself to drink it anyway would only ruin the meal.

Is it possible to repurpose bad wine in cooking?

There's nothing you can do—your wine is bad, and you won't be able to drink it! But don't pour it down the sink drain just yet: it can still be used in the kitchen.

Bad wine can often be used to make a sauce: French cuisine is full of recipes for wine-based sauces, especially those served with meat. The downside of using bad wine this way is that it will generally retain its unpleasant taste. Unless you’re not too picky about the taste of your sauce, this solution isn’t suitable for bad wine.

We therefore recommend serving it hot, as part of a slow-cooked meat dish: beef bourguignon and coq au vin are classics of French cuisine that pair perfectly with a slightly oxidized wine. You might also consider making fondue bourguignonne to make the most of an oxidized wine.

However, here too, a wine that tastes too stale, vinegary, or oxidized… is likely to retain its unpleasant taste when cooked.

Therefore, if your wine is no longer good enough to use in cooking, the only solution is to turn it into vinegar.

As a last resort, use your bad wine to make vinegar

One might mistakenly believe that wine left to sit on its own will turn into vinegar over time. That’s not the case at all! It’s actually a chemical process that can take several months and requires very little equipment to carry out at home.

So, if you want to make your own vinegar, you’ll need a completely opaque container that doesn’t let any light through. It can be made of glass, ceramic, wood, or even metal. Be careful when choosing the material: the container can impart a slight flavor to the vinegar; therefore, to achieve a more authentic taste, it’s recommended to choose a wooden vinegar bottle. All vinegar dispensers come with a spout, allowing you to pour the vinegar without having to open the container and compromise its seal. Depending on the size, material, and quality of the vinegar dispenser, prices range from 15 to 100 euros.

Once you have your vinegar decanter, you’ll need the following ingredients: your bad wine and air! This will allow the fungus responsible for turning wine into vinegar—Mycoderma asceti—to develop. This is known as the “mother”: it can be purchased in stores or develop naturally. The process can sometimes take months.

To ensure the mother’s healthy growth, she will need three essential elements:

• Alcohol, which will come from the bad wine you pour into the vinegar cruet,

• Oxygen: For this reason, it’s necessary to air out the vinegar jar regularly (in this regard, wood is recommended, as the container is then opaque while still allowing the mixture to breathe). Be careful during this step: flies and gnats will be attracted to your mixture. You’ll therefore need to cover the jar with a cloth that’s thin enough to let air in, yet woven tightly enough to keep insects out.

• A temperature between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius. If the storage area gets too hot or too cold, you'll need to move your mother to a safer place to protect her.

At first, the initial few centiliters of vinegar you obtain will be sour, bitter, and harsh; this is normal. You need to give the mixture time to aerate and oxidize—between 6 and 8 months in total. At this stage, the vinegar will become much milder: it will be pleasant on the palate and delicious in all your culinary creations. Patience is the key ingredient in making your own vinegar! If you don’t like wasting the dregs at the bottom of your bottle or your bad wine and want to try making your own products, making your own vinegar is the perfect solution.

To take it a step further and produce high-quality vinegar, you can even, eventually, transfer some of your filtered vinegar to a wooden barrel and store it in a cool place with a constant temperature. You’ll end up with an aged vinegar that has an authentic, rich flavor—one you simply can’t find in stores! 

Now you know what to do if you’re ever unlucky enough to open a bad bottle of wine! If you’re a lover of this fine beverage, it’s a safe bet that you’ll encounter this situation from time to time. We hope our tips and tricks will help you make the most of a wine with unpleasant aromas!