Leftover wine can be a sad site to see. Especially if you enjoyed the wine and you quite possibly can’t drink anymore. For reds I like to put a cork in it and stick it in the fridge for up to 3 days. Whites can last longer. Sometimes 5 or more days. Your palette is the ultimate judge though. Pull the reds out about an hour before you’re wanting to drink it again so it warms up a bit.
What if you didn’t like the wine or if you have too much leftover wine and want to do something with it before it turns vinegary? There are several cooking options like deglazing a pan and making a simple sauce for a steak or a red wine herb butter is also delicious to add to a steak. Sometimes you just have too much wine. Last night I opened up a bottle of Corbieres. It’s a hearty red wine from the South of France. I honestly didn’t care for it. It wasn’t a bad wine it just wasn’t for me at that time. I had a glass and stopped drinking it. Yes, I don’t like all French wines. Hard to be believe I know. So with at least 3/4 of a bottle left I was in a dilemma on what to do with it. Too much wine to make a pan sauce for 1 and I really wanted something low maintenance to do with it. I realized I had about 2 lbs of leftover uncooked pork shoulder in my freezer. I took it out still in the ziplock back and let it thaw out a bit on the counter. Before I went to bed I dumped the entire bottle in the bag and threw in a couple sprigs of Rosemary and some leftover sliced onion I had laying around in my fridge.
The next day I took out my trusty Le Creuset braiser and dumped the entire bag of pork, wine, and vegetables in there. I had the oven preset at 325 degrees. I set the braiser on the stove top to medium and added shallots, thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns, and a tiny bit of salt. Before it started to boil I put the lid on the braiser and set it in the oven at 325 for 3 hours. After 3 hours most of the liquid was gone and the pork had a deep dark color and was fall apart tender. I shredded the pork and put it in a bowl. Then strained the remaining liquid into the pork and mixed it up. This helps keep the pork moist. That’s it! Pulled pork sandwiches for the week. For me I like some toasted rustic sourdough bread with a little Dijon and whatever cheese is in the fridge. Add some pulled pork and your lunch is set. There are many things you can do with leftover wine. Beef instead of pork would of been a good option as well. Keep in mind if the wine is so bad it disgusts you, you’re better off throwing it down the drain.