Storing Port and Marsala

[JennyLou]

Can anyone tell me how long you can store port wine and marsala wine after you open it? Does it need to be refrigerated, or can I keep it on the cupboard shelf? I use it for cooking, and hate to waste what I don't use in one dish.

[Capaneus]

Can anyone tell me how long you can store port wine and marsala wine after you open it?  Does it need to be refrigerated, or can I keep it on the cupboard shelf?  I use it for cooking, and hate to waste what I don't use in one dish.

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If you're using Port for cooking only, it will keep quite a long time, particularly if you refrigerate it. The same process used to fortify the wine gives it a good deal more stability than table wine has - it's the original purpose, after all - and the cold will slow the decay even further. You do lose volatile aromatics fairly rapidly, so a good vintage Port would taste much simpler the next morning, but it wouldn't go "bad" as such. A simpler Port, like a ruby or cheap tawny, that you might cook with, will change relatively little, and relatively slowly.

I don't know to what extent the same is true for Marsala.