Keeping Muscat de Rivesaltes
I've had a bottle of Muscat de Rivesaltes on the shelf for a while but opened it last night for cooking. How should I store the remainder, as I'll be using it rather slowly?
It's a very lightly fortified wine, only 15.5%. I'd keep sherry (18%) tightly stoppered and on the shelf for weeks, but would freeze a strong red if it wasn't going to be used in a few days.
Drinking it up isn't an option as I'm not much of a drinker, especially alone. So should I treat it like a stronger fortified wine, or like normal wine?
Best Answer
So should I treat it like a stronger fortified wine, or like normal wine?
Treat it like a sweet wine, because that's what it is.
While 15.5% alcohol isn't very much, sugar is a great preservative, too. According to your Wikipedia link, MdR has a required minimum residual sugar of 100 g/l. A bottle of decent Sauternes (for exampel Suduiraut, which at my vendor has vintages ranging 116-135 g/l) can keep for weeks (under cork, in the fridge).
A third factor that comes into play is also the amount of sulphur (SO2) added to the wine, which usually is quite high in sweet wine, although vins doux naturels might be a different story, since SO2 is not as important to stop fermentation when you're also fortifying. (Finding out how much SO2 there's in the wine is usually not very easy, unless the producer is opposed to its use and wants to tell you how little there is in their wine.)
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The Muscat wine has a very good storage potential and can be kept for 10 years. Through aging, the wine gives other scents such as caramel, nuts and raisins. The complex, expressive and rich dessert wine combines fantastic with desserts of exotic fruit and blue cheese.How long does Muscat Keep unopened?
Storing Dessert Wines After Opening As an example, a sweet Muscat dessert wine can last 5-10 years (unopened) and then 3-4 weeks (opened) in a kitchen refrigerator.Do you put Muscat in the fridge?
Keep it in the fridge but don't expect it to be the same as when it was freshly opened. On the other hand, fortified wines such as port and muscat are very tolerant to storage when opened.How long does Muscat last after opening?
Thanks to the addition of brandy during the blending process, vintage fortified wines, Tawny, Muscat and Topaque can stay fresh for a considerable 28 days once opened. Like full-bodied reds, ensure the bottle is sealed tight with the screw cap or original cork and store the wine in a cool, dark cellar or cupboard.Is Muscat de Rivesaltes a dessert wine?
Domaine Treloar - Muscat de Rivesaltes - 50clA late-harvested, fortified sweet aperitif or dessert wine. It has a beautiful floral aroma and rich honeyed palate with dried fruits and nuts.Muscat de Rivesaltes
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Answer 2
Treat it like normal wine, 15% isn't enough alcohol to preserve it. Refrigerated it will be drinkable for up to 2 weeks and you should be able to cook with it for a bit longer than that. I'm not a huge fan of freezing wine, especially if you're going to be thawing and then re-freezing it, although for cooking you can get away with it.
Incidentally, most sherries do not have a long shelf-life and should be treated the same way.
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