Here's How Long A Bottle Of Port Lasts After Opening

Port wine, so named after the city from which it hails, Porto, in the Duoro region of Portugal, is typically sweet and served up with the dessert course of a meal. If you're looking to try this fortified wine at your next dinner party or even to cook with it (like with this poached pear seafoam salad or the saucy Francesinha sandwich), you can find it wherever wines are sold — and often for less than $30 a bottle. But once you've opened said bottle, how long do you have to drink it?

There are four main different types of port: tawny, ruby, vintage, and white. And of these, all except for vintage will keep in the refrigerator for up to three months. Vintage port (VP) will only last you five days, but the older the VP, the less time you have to drink it. (The oldest VPs, in fact, which may be aged 25 years or more, should be drunk within two days of opening them.)

The reason for such a large window with the tawny, ruby, and white ports is because they are fortified, meaning that they contain additional alcohol that has been combined with the wine during its creation. Because of the extra alcohol content, they are less susceptible to the deterioration woes of regular wine. But VPs are bottled in such a way that, despite the extra alcohol added, they're more vulnerable to oxygenation (they won't deteriorate entirely after a few days, but the special flavors and aroma will quickly start to fade).

An open bottle of port doesn't necessarily have to be refrigerated, but if you want it to last longer, popping it in the fridge will help slow the oxidation process (though you will want to pull it out long enough in advance for it to come up to room temperature before drinking it again). If you can fit the cork back into the bottle, great — that will also help with oxidation. But if you can't, consider investing in a vacuum-sealed wine stopper (which is great for storing regular wine in the fridge, too).

Because a major contributor to the oxidation process is (you guessed it) oxygen, if you can't put the cork back in and you didn't think ahead to order a wine stopper, you can actually pour your port into a smaller, airtight container. This reduces the amount of port that comes into contact with the oxygen in the air, thus buying you more time. A small mason jar with a screw-top lid is perfect for this trick. Ultimately, nothing can hold back the hands of time, though. And if you notice your port's aroma and flavor changing significantly, you should consider dumping it out and buying a new bottle.