If you love wine, opening a new bottle is always a special experience. And while it can be fun to crush a whole bottle (or two) with some friends, there definitely are those occasions where you’re simply not able to make it through the whole thing. Thankfully, that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck when it comes to enjoying the rest  — you just have to know how to properly ensure its longevity so you can savor it another day. Usually, this means keeping it in a temperature-controlled environment and out of the sun, and making sure it’s engaging with as little oxygen and airflow as possible. 

Arguably the most important point in extending wine’s lifespan is limiting the amount of oxygen it’s in contact with. While introducing oxygen helps wine to open up and maximally express its flavors and notes in the short term, over a longer period of time, oxidation is what also causes wine to lose its freshness and begin to decay. To be sure, there are many fine ways to store wine at home, from investing in a nice stopper set (or just pushing the cork back in) to using a vacuum-sealing device. To learn more about the best methods for storing opened wine, we talked to Dave Thompson, owner of Chicago wine bar and bottle shop Deep Red Wine Merchant, and his coworker, Spencer Jones.

Thompson is a big fan of using vacuum pumps to make sure wine stays safe from premature oxidation. “Once a bottle of wine is opened and exposed to oxygen, the stopwatch starts,” he explains. “We use pumps at Deep Red every night. They’re helpful, but not bulletproof. For home storage, they can be helpful, but know that once wine is opened, you’re on the clock.” For casual wine drinkers who aren’t opening expensive or rare bottles nightly, Thompson prefers the Vacu Vin, a $17 pump that allows you to remove oxygen from an opened bottle and seal it to ensure freshness.

Vacu Vin Vacuum Wine Stopper

Beyond the Vacu Vin, Thompson says the next step up would be the more intensive Coravin, which is a tool that’s widely respected across the industry. “If you like [the Vacu Vin] and want to take things a bit more seriously, move on to a Coravin, especially if you’re a collector or if you’re going to open a special bottle that you’ve been sitting on for a while,” he says. 

A major benefit of the Coravin is that you can vacuum out oxygen from the bottle, but still pour wine without sealing it. “This is why you see wine reps carrying Coravins with them: It pushes inert gas into the bottle instead of oxygen and pours a taste out. They can get more mileage out of a bottle that way.” 

Coravin Timeless Three+ Wine Preservation System

Even with a high-quality vacuum or stopper, there’s a limit to how long you’ll be able to enjoy your wine at its most fresh. Thompson said that a lot of wine will be OK for two to three days, though it really depends on the wine — some low-intervention wines might only be good for a day due to not having any added preservatives, while higher acid and more tannic wines can last longer. “Some very tannic reds can be opened for five days and still taste fine,” Thompson says. “Wines that are produced with minimal sulfites can also have a shorter shelf life, but that just means you get to drink the whole thing!”

Ultimately, Thompson said wine stoppers are fine, but that he prefers pumps. “Can you throw a cork or stopper in it overnight and have it be fine? Yes,” he said. But by investing in the $17 Vacu Vin, you’ll be able to ensure that less oxidation occurs, letting you enjoy your precious bottle for days to come.

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