You wake up in the morning with a train parked on your skull and hazy memories of the night before. You walk into your kitchen and– sheer horror.
On your counter are 3-4 half consumed bottles of wine. There they sit… uncorked, warm, and lonely from the night before. You have to pour them down the sink and bid them farewell, right?
Not so fast! Wasting wine is a sin. Even though a little sinning is important to a well balanced life, this is one you don’t have to commit. So, what to do with leftover wine? Check it out and party on.
(REMEMBER: If it tastes like vinegar, don’t put it in your body. See 4, 8 and 10 for uses that don’t include consumption.)
1) DRINK IT! Or… at least try it.
Great news. Still wine takes longer to spoil than most people know. It depends on the quality of the juice in question, but one can pretty safely follow the three day rule.
Pop that wine back in the fridge (be it red or white) and save it for the night to come. It may be worth revisiting, or it may not… but it’s always worth a shot (or two or three).
2) Freeze it!
Have a hangover? Try sucking on some wine cubes… frozen hair of the dog is a lot better than liquid hair of the dog, for some reason. Wine ice cubes have tons of great uses, and it don’t matter none if your wine is slightly past it’s prime drinkability phase.
3) Red wine sauce has red wine in it.
Ever had a juicy steak smothered with a shallot and red wine sauce? Well, how about doing it without the bistro bill?
So long as your wine isn’t straight up spoiled, it’ll do just fine as far as the kitchen is concerned. There are a million recipes online and in cookbooks, and they’re all super simple. Don’t pour it out, get saucy instead!
4) Tye-dye is making a comeback.
Even the tiniest drop of red wine has the power to stain your favorite shirt for eternity. Well, staining your shirt on purpose is a thing, and it’s called tye-dye.
Get yourself some white t-shirts, stones and rubber bands and hop on the hippie bandwagon with some psychedelic (and alcoholic) red and pink swirls, man.
5) Cocktails, anybody?
Even wine that ain’t perfect for straight sipping can play a supporting role in your next cocktail. Click here or here for some adventurous cocktails featuring vino.
6) Coq au vin is better than it sounds.
Only Francophones can pronounce this without raising a few eyebrows, but almost anybody can cook it… especially folks who have lot of red wine lying around. Re-purpose your vino with a pan and some protein.
7) Shake it up, baby!
Wine milkshakes are sort of like acupuncture: they sound awful but are actually great. Find the finest recipes here and get your blender revved up.
8) Watercolors aren’t just for kids, sorta.
Pick up a piece of paper and a brush (or use your fingers) and uncover your inner artist. Painting with wine may be ridiculous, but it’s also fun and much better than pouring it down a drain, no matter how “vinegary” it is.
Who knows, you may just produce the next big thing in red, white and rosé colored art. Or try painting a still life of a wine bottle… pretty meta dude.
9) Wine slushies are better than regular slushies.
It’s even easier to drink wine slushies than it is to make ‘em. Find out how here and never dump a day old bottle again.
10) Ever bathed in wine?
Wine baths are said to protect against aging of the skin, provide useful antioxidants and help blood circulation. Skip the botox and bathe in your leftover vino, it’s ballerific and healthy.
Waste no wine, and remember to #wineallthetime.
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