Leftover Wine

I spent two months living in Paris this past summer, at culinary school and generally embracing my millennial pre-business school eat-pray-love moment. The Parisians are a curious folk: at once laid-back yet uptight, carefree yet intense, liberal and flamboyant yet deeply protective of their culture and way of life.

One night after a friend's family dinner party, I stayed to help clean up. Thinking I was making myself useful, I began cleaning dishes. I washed the pots. I washed the plates. And then I got around to collecting the leftover wine glasses strewn throughout the small apartment.

One still had a few sips of Bordeaux left in it. As I moved to dump it in the sink, the grandmother, previously idly tidying up, whipped around, grabbed my arm, looked me straight in the eye, and said:

"On ne jette jamais le vin."

One never throws away wine.

She grabbed the glass - its owner having departed hours before - and knocked it back.

So it has become my life motto, my guiding principle both in the metaphorical and the literal sense, my "when life gives you lemons": one never throws away good wine.

But what to do with leftover wine, other than pound it like grandma fratstar?

Turns out there are a number of options:

- Cook with it! I've found nicely structured wine can last at least a few days in the fridge, maybe a week, if you replace the cork, and still be fine to cook with.
- Turn it into vinegar! With a bit of live, unfiltered vinegar, you can turn that red or wine bottle into red or white wine vinegar. Combine vinegar and wine in a glass carboy, cover with a cloth (don't seal!), and let sit for a couple months. Vinegar!
- Turn it into jelly! With a bit of pectin and sugar you can turn leftover wine into a delicious jelly dip. Goes great on a cheese plate or with dessert.

Or, you know, just finish the wine you open.