Despite our best efforts, sometimes there is leftover wine. Maybe enough for one more glass the next day or if you had a few bottles open you’re left with a hodgepodge of wine remnants that you don’t know what to do with. Rather than pouring them down the drain, I recommend looking at your leftover wine as an ingredient for future meals. Here are a few tricks to using leftover red and white wine in your cooking. 

Ice cubes
Freeze leftover red and white wine in ice trays, preserving the flavor of the wine for glazes, sauces, or ice cubes for sangria. 

Flavor Ganache
Whisk equal parts heavy cream and red wine (merlot, pinot noir, or cabernet) together and follow the directions of your preferred chocolate ganache recipe for a more flavorful and rich ganache for cakes, ice cream, and cookies. Jar it and give as a gift for Valentine’s day or special occasions. 

Wine Compound Butter
Reduce a cup of red wine until thick and syrupy. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Mix reduced wine with a ½ stick softened unsalted butter and season with fresh herbs, salt, and black pepper. Wrap in plastic wrap and roll into a log and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use. Wine compound butter is good to make a pan sauce or topped on steak or pork. 

Homemade Vinegar
Mix three parts red wine and one part vinegar and store in an airtight container for three weeks. After the three weeks, use the red wine vinegar for marinades, salad dressings, or use in cocktails. 

Wine Jam
Add roughly 1½ cups of wine to your favorite fruit preserve recipes to enhance the natural fruit flavors and add depth to traditional jams. Match the wine with the fruit, red wine with berries and dark fruit (like figs and plums), white wine with citrus and yellow fruit (like apricots, pairs, and mangos). 

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