Don't wait until it's too late

You might believe that you can add wine to your food at any stage of cooking, but this is untrue. Depending on what you're cooking, you should add wine at different times, but What's Cooking America recommends that you avoid adding wine too late. When your food is going to be served, adding a large amount of wine right before serving might make it taste harsh. What's Cooking America suggests waiting 10 minutes to allow the wine to boil down and burn out any unfavorable flavors since you don't want your meal to taste like it's been injected with alcohol.

According to Fine Cooking, you should add the wine to long-simmering stews, braises, or sauces right after the liquid begins to simmer and your other components have begun to brown. After that, you'll let the wine slightly diminish so that the flavors may concentrate and the alcohol can be cooked off. Fine Cooking advises adding any additional liquids you're using, such as stock after the wine has reduced. As a sauce cooks, you might think about adding some red wine. Lorenzo Boni, the executive chef of Barilla America, suggests using a red wine reduction in Insider.