Teach me about supermarket tiny bottles of wine
February 16, 2024 1:55 PM   Subscribe

I have a household of non-drinkers or barely-drinkers. Sometimes I need a small amount of wine for a recipe, but opening a whole bottle is always a waste because it won't get finished any time soon and the remnants usually end up getting thrown away a month later. I noticed that at the supermarket near me they sell really small bottles, like the old wine coolers or even smaller. Are those okay for cooking? Or are they crap and they'll ruin my dish? Basically I know nothing about wine, so please enlighten me.
posted by BlahLaLa to Food & Drink (28 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: If they're the style I'm thinking about where they're sold in a 4-pack, I use them for cooking a fair amount similarly. If your recipe uses enough wine, canned wine would be a good move since it's opaque to light & well-sealed; but if it looks like they're marketing the wine as "here's this style, from this vineyard" you're probably fine flavor-wise.
posted by CrystalDave at 2:02 PM on February 16, 2024 [4 favorites]


The style CrystalDave linked to is the style I use for recipes that call for wine. I’m sure they aren’t the most fantastic wine around, but it’s better than just adding some water instead. Definetly avoid generic “cooking wine” though, that’s the stuff that’s trash.
posted by DJWeezy at 2:09 PM on February 16, 2024 [1 favorite]


They are superb for cooking! I love them for that use.

My hot take on cooking with wine is that while using better wine will lead to better tasting results, there is no wine so bad that it alone will make your dish taste bad. And yes, I have cooked with "cooking wine".
posted by capricorn at 2:14 PM on February 16, 2024 [12 favorites]


Best answer: Yep, I use those for those times when I don't have an open bottle of wine; much less waste. And I even freeze what I don't use! (gasp!) The wine is really just a hit of acidity, so if you didn't use it, you could use lemon or vinegar instead, but wine brings a nice flavor.
posted by hydra77 at 2:15 PM on February 16, 2024 [2 favorites]


You might consider the expanding options of box wine, which should last a month - and increasingly can be found in small sizes.
posted by coffeecat at 2:16 PM on February 16, 2024 [3 favorites]


The cans are usually better wine than the tiny bottles, but either are fine for cooking. Wine goes bad from air and light, so if you wanted to keep some for later in the freezer, do so in a ziplock and press out as much air as possible. Doesn't drink great later, but again, fine for cooking.
posted by advicepig at 2:17 PM on February 16, 2024


They'll be just fine. I prefer the tetra paks but the little bottles will do you great!

The only exception for me is boeuf bourguignon, for which I recommend a nice Burgundy wine, but even if you use a not as nice wine, it'll still be great.
posted by cooker girl at 2:17 PM on February 16, 2024


Quality does vary, you can get nasty stuff in tinys and good stuff in tinys. In my region, we have these. I don't drink wine much, but do use them for cooking regularly because of their size; I've never noticed a problem with them in cooking at all. Their stuff is middle of the road. Better than like, your local mini-mart wine options by a wide margin. I asked a Wine-Friend™ what they thought of it once, and they replied that it was some of the better wine they'd had at a non-wine household.

Cans are markedly more stable than either glass or tetrapaks in terms of longevity, if they're stored in a cool environment (light doesn't matter much for cans).
posted by furnace.heart at 2:36 PM on February 16, 2024 [1 favorite]


I prefer the tetra paks but the little bottles will do you great!

We've started using mini tetra paks for cooking wine.
posted by zamboni at 2:42 PM on February 16, 2024


I also don't drink wine so when I get a bottle for cooking I pour it into a freezer bag and, well, freeze it. It's for cooking. It's fine. I dollop it out in spoonfuls. Got a bag of red and a bag of white.

Been doing this for years!
posted by phunniemee at 3:02 PM on February 16, 2024 [6 favorites]


If your recipe calls for white wine you can often swap out dry (clear) vermouth. Vermouth will keep for a much longer time so you don't have to worry about it going to waste and throwing it away.
posted by brookeb at 3:18 PM on February 16, 2024 [7 favorites]


I often buy a low end bottle of sake for cooking (Japanese) food; I have substituted it for white wine in risottos and whatnot with good results. I keep it in the fridge for ages, although I have no idea if this recommended it seems fine
posted by chocotaco at 3:51 PM on February 16, 2024


You can freeze wine to cook with! It turns slushy, not solid, so no need to defrost, just scoop what you need.
posted by showbiz_liz at 4:27 PM on February 16, 2024


There's a whole mystique around cooking with wine, but it's mostly BS. In most dishes, I doubt anyone can tell the difference between a version made with very inexpensive wine and something much fancier. It's just not worth worrying about. Use whatever wine is practical and certainly opt for something inexpensive. If you want to omit the wine entirely or replace it with a much smaller splash of vinegar, that's totally fine too. Obviously, don't omit wine in a red wine reduction, but for your typical "add a half cup of wine" recipe, it's just not a big deal as it is a background flavour.
posted by ssg at 4:34 PM on February 16, 2024 [2 favorites]


We just finished a lovely dinner risotto with white wine from ice cubes. We have a deep/chest freezer so your mileage may vary, but we portion the wine into quarter cup (or whatever will fit in the ice cube tray) and then put the finished cubes into a baggie. So if you need half a cup of wine - two cubes in the pot with the broth and done. For white we usually use a nice dry (not sweet) wine like a sauvignon blanc, as opposed to a sweeter wine like a pinot grigio. We haven't done it with red, primarily because red wine recipes tend to call for a cup or more of wine and we'll have a glass with dinner, so we just open a bottle.
posted by true at 4:42 PM on February 16, 2024 [1 favorite]


2nding dry vermouth instead of white wine for cooking.
posted by rustcellar at 4:43 PM on February 16, 2024 [2 favorites]


I’m sure they aren’t the most fantastic wine around

Those sutter home bottles are not the most fantastic wine around, but there's totally good enough that they're my preferred wine to carry on long hikes, due to the convenient packaging. Absolutely good enough for cooking. Store the other little bottles in a cool location out of sunlight (e.g., a cupboard or pantry), and I'd think they'll be fine for at least a couple years.
posted by aubilenon at 4:43 PM on February 16, 2024 [1 favorite]


You can also take leftover wine and turn it into live vinegar! But that may just create more work and problems for you. But you can make some really good salad dressing or other treats with it and avoid food waste that way.
posted by cakebatter at 4:46 PM on February 16, 2024


Oh yeah I pretty much exclusively get those tiny bottles, I usually have a couple red and a couple white in my cupboard. Red for pot roast and mushroom dishes, white for seafood and risotto. The other alcohols I have are cognac and sake, both of which last for ages and I only use a splash of each at a time. I have been known to use cognac in place of red wine for things that need deglazing, adding a little honey for sweetness to compensate. And I’ve used sake instead of white wine with seafood, it’s very good of course because the Japanese know what they are about when it comes to seafood, usually I will add some extra aromatics or herbs or stock to compensate for the lack of complexity in sake compared to white wine. So yeah, there are ways to adjust cooking if you want to eschew wine altogether and keep larger bottles of spirits with a long shelf life instead. But the tiny bottles, if you’re okay with the packaging, are totally good for cooking. According to my friends who drink wine, they are often pretty drinkable too. I never managed to get a taste for it and now my alcohol tolerance is utterly tanked due to meds, so I could not say. Tastes good in a sauce though.
posted by Mizu at 5:33 PM on February 16, 2024 [1 favorite]


I don't drink red but I sometimes cook with red, so in those cases I tend to buy specifically the Underwood Pinot in a can (the 375ml cans are pretty readily available at least here and cost about $6; there are 250ml cans out there somewhere). Sometimes when I need red for cooking, I will instead buy and cook with the Underwood Rose in a can, because I will drink rose. (I also buy the sparkling white pretty often, I enjoy it.) Any leftovers of the rose and the white will keep in your fridge better than a red (and yes to freezing them). I've tried other canned wines that are available at my local supermarket/Target, they are ok but I like the Underwood ones best of the ones I have used. Some wine shops have pretty ok wines in cans, but they tend to be a little more expensive.
posted by vunder at 5:35 PM on February 16, 2024


Sutter Home wines (they're available in little bottles) are pretty good for drinking. I assume that means they're OK for cooking too.

I wouldn't focus too much on whether the wine is sold at a supermarket. I go to supermarkets that include elaborate, excellent wine sections.
posted by JimN2TAW at 6:20 PM on February 16, 2024 [3 favorites]


Vermouth will keep for a much longer time so you don't have to worry about it going to waste and throwing it away.

About three months, if kept in the fridge. It will taste different than when you opened it, though. You can minimize this if you decant into smaller and smaller bottles so there's less opportunity for oxidization.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:29 PM on February 16, 2024


Or keep the wine from oxidising by pumping out the air with a Vacu Vin wine saver.
posted by k3ninho at 2:47 AM on February 17, 2024


They're just fine. Another option is to freeze leftover wine in small containers.
posted by theora55 at 11:17 AM on February 17, 2024


I get the Sutter Home 4-packs and keep the unopened bottles in a dark cabinet. The opened ones go in the fridge and are still fine to cook with after a month, at least by sniff test and the taste of the recipe.
posted by indexy at 12:03 PM on February 17, 2024


Nthing dry vermouth instead of white wine for cooking. For red, go with boxed wine and keep it in your fridge--it will last for a very very very long time and be perfectly suitable for cooking. Hell, I have drank from a box of wine that lived in my mom's fridge for at least six months and it was decent. (Little bottles are also fine.)
posted by desuetude at 4:27 PM on February 17, 2024


If you're interested in an alcohol free alternative, I've been using very strong black tea plus a tablespoon of vinegar (usually red wine vinegar) per cup as a substitute for red wine for years. I think I read it in Cook's Illustrated. Works like a charm.

I've also frozen leftover wine and used the wine ice cubes in place of fresh.

Both methods work great. For the tea/ vinegar, I use it for things that have longer cooking like brisket or stew. For something like a quick pan sauce, you want the flavor, so I either freeze what's left or use a fresh bottle and freeze the rest.
posted by carrioncomfort at 6:35 AM on February 18, 2024


I like regular bottles, and use the Private Reserve wine preserver. This is a little can of some inert gas (argon?) It basically lets you reset the "has been opened flag" on a bottle of wine (or anything else that can be harmed by oxidation and lives in a re-sealable bottle).

One can will last you ages (unless someone throws it out, because it doesn't slosh and "feels empty" even when far from empty).
posted by sourcequench at 7:37 PM on February 22, 2024


« Older Help me find a story about a housewife and the...   |   Wiireless Speaker Home Audio set-up Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments