I’ve had an unopened bottle of this in the fridge for at LEAST ten years. Should I toss it?
Open and taste. It wasn’t a good wine to begin with and is probably bad, but a taste won’t kill you. You might be pleasantly surprised, but it’s a long shot.
5 Likes
Agreed - why not give it a try.
It was probably pretty sweet to begin with, so I’d keep that in mind - for me that would mean not pairing with a meal per se . . . maybe on its own or after a meal - but everyone’s preferences vary.
1 Like
LOL… I don’t want to drink it. I kept it around for guests, but they have always preferred cocktails, beer, or real wine. I think it is ready for the bin.
“Sparkling White Zin”
I believe it was past its drinkable date the day you purchased it and put it in the fridge.
I didn’t purchase it. It was brought by neighbors who attended a dinner party I hosted. But yeah… you’re right… and why it has sit in the fridge for the past 10+ years.
1 Like
LOL - I’m just ribbing you. When I was a kid on the rare occasions we’d go out to eat at places that served wine my dad always ordered the Lancers that came in the clay bottle - so I know people do drink sweet sparklers.
I currently have a 3L box wine of rose in my garage fridge that I somehow ended up with after a group picnic. I imagine it will likely suffer the same fate as your white zin.
1 Like
I remember Lancer’s. It was something we drank as teenagers along with a number of crap wines like Boone’s Farm and Manischewitz.
1 Like
Still, aren’t you curious? Someone went to the trouble of fermenting that Zinfandel juice and turning it into a sparkling wine. Methode champenois?
1 Like
If it still tastes fine - use it to make a dessert. You can set it with some gelatin for example as a layer in a layered dessert … google will have lots of ideas.
Work with the sweetness and experiment a little. What do you have to lose?
If you decide to drink it, I came up with a cocktail recipe to salvage an unloved wine:
Good Save
1 c (give or take) gross sweet reisling you bought by mistake
juice of 1/2 a lemon and 1/2 a lime
seltzer
I have had a bottle of Barefoot Pink Moscato lurking among the liquor bottles for a couple of years now. I don’t remember which guest brought it, nor can I figure out who to re-gift it to. Anyone I know who would be likely to drink it is underage.
You could add Mateus, another famous Portuguese frizzante [?], to that list.
Guest brought this Loupiac nearly 8-9 years ago. Not fond of sweet white, maybe I will use your recipe…
I’ve also a few bottles of bad champagnes brought by some guests…some 4-5 years ago…no idea what to do with them, maybe cooking.
I feel like it might have a dessert application.
2 Likes
If it’s not awful, use it to poach some pears
I do believe you have described a white wine spritzer.
A fine save for crappy wine you can’t bring yourself to throw away, and for Amtrak wine too (ask me how I know).
You could use this for boozy dessert - I recall a lovely recipe for orange supremes or slices soaked in a brandy syrup - no reason this couldn’t be used instead.
Or use it to soak a cake dessert of some sort, in lieu of syrup.
1 Like
Why not? Orange works well with typically rum and brandy. A white may works better with more delicate fruits like peach or strawberries…
Soaked cakes, good idea, will try to look at some champagne cake recipes as well, to see if a replacement is possible.
Less seltzer, more fruit juice. But similar. As soon as you change something about a drink, it gets a new name, according to a rule I made up just now.
I’ve made this with all sorts of white wine. https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/poached-pears-with-cardamom-and-saffron/amp
