All foods and beverages have an expiration date. Some have a short shelf life, like fresh produce, dairy, meat and seafood, while others’ can last much longer, i.e., frozen and processed products. This date is marked by the words like “Expiration,” “Use By” or “Best By,” and is very clearly labeled on any product’s packaging so the customer knows exactly when the food or drink needs to be used  before it goes bad or is no longer safe for consumption. 

Expiration dates are important to pay attention to — not only for the obvious reason: your health — but also because if you don’t eat or drink something before it expires, you end up wasting food, and in turn, wasting money.

Does wine have an expiration date?

While technically wine does not technically expire in the same way that the above-mentioned food and beverage products do, it can certainly go bad and reach a point where it’s no longer worthy of a sip.

As you may know, many wines get better with age and can last well past a so-called expiration date, so long as they are kept at the right temperature, unopened. But once a bottle of wine is open, you run the risk of it going back if it is not consumed within a certain period of time — especially if the wine is organic and/or does not contain any added sulfites or other preservatives. These types of wines are much more fragile, and will not last very long.

How long does wine last once opened?

Experts say that big, bold red wines should be drunk within 5 days of opening the bottle, while lighter white wines should be drunk within 3 days, otherwise these wines risk oxidation. Oxidation is the primary reason for wine going bad, as this means that too much oxygen has touched the surface of the wine and prevents it from staying fresh. When too much oxygen hits the wine, it essentially turns it into vinegar which has an astounding affect on the aromas, the flavors, even the color of the wine, and at a certain point, it will become undrinkable. 

This is why it is so important to cork your bottle and put it back in your properly temperate refrigerator to keep it safe and preserved — that is, unless you just drink the entire bottle in one sitting.

No added sulfite wines don't last indefinitely

Because SYLTBAR is among the wines that are free of any added sulfites, we always recommend drinking an open bottle of our fine wines, Silk, White Linen, Junior and Cashmere, within 2 days of opening.

Mr and Mrs are also free of any added sulfites, but because they are bubbly, there is a little more wiggle room. This is because sparkling wines in general are not really meant to be aged. Prosecco and other sparkling wines are meant to be drunk young. It doesn’t matter if the bottle is open or unopened, sparkling wines do not hold on for as long as still wines do.

We stress the importance of drinking Mr and Mrs within 5 days of opening, and if you do not finish the bottle in one sitting, always remember to use a SYLTBAR bottle stopper to keep the bubbles fresh and fizzing for up to 3-4 days! We also suggest consuming bottles of Mr and Mrs within 2 or 3 years of the bottle date — not the purchase date.

Not all wine have bottle dates

This is an important detail to pay attention to. Most sparkling wine companies do not include the actual bottle date on their labels. Still wines include a vintage, so you know the year the grapes were harvested and the wine was produced.

This is not always the case with sparkling wines. You may not know how long that bottle has been on the shelf, how long ago the grapes were harvested or when the sparkling wine was produced and bottled. SYLTBAR is completely transparent in their wine production process. Every single SYLTBAR wine is labeled with its bottle date, so there is never any second guessing!

Do vintage wines last longer than non vintage wines?

Remember, SYLTBAR still wines are vintage, and because they are free of any additives, which is why they are best consumed within 1-2 days. Mr and Mrs are non-vintage wines, which means they were created using a variety of grapes from different years. That is why you can keep them open using the stopper for a longer time period than our still wines. The main difference between Mr and Mrs and SYLTBAR fine wines, when compared with non-vintage fine wines and those that contain a lot of chemicals is that while you may be able to keep them open for longer, at least 10 days, they contain a lot of chemicals to preserve them for that long.

Follow our general rules for drinking SYLTBAR within a certain amount of days, and you will never have to worry about your wine going bad. Remember, Mr and Mrs must be drunk within 5 days, and our still wines within 2 days.

Shop for the entire SYLTBAR collection online at syltbar.com, or check our locator to find a retailer that carries our wine near you.