How long will red wine last in fermenting bucket after fermentation?

[Berry454]

I have two 25l bucket type fermenters containing 21 litres each of Winexpert Cabernet merlot reserve red wine.

Fermentation/stabilizing/degassing was completed 8 weeks ago and sadly they have sat in the fermenting buckets since then. Yes, they have also sat on the sediment at the bottom of the fermenters for this time too, they haven't been racked off.

I'm going to try and bottle them tomorrow. I'm just a little concerned as these are £70 wine kits and they have literally just sat in the fermenting bins for 8 weeks after finishing the kits. The concern is that the fermenters have a good 4-5 litres of headspace between the lid? Could they have oxidised? Plus they have sat on the sediment for 8 weeks..

 

[Stevieboy]

In theory they should be ok. Sitting on the lees for a while is fine - lots of wine prodcers leave their wines "sur lies" for long periods, which produces a more rounded creamy wine. Get it bottled.

 

[ChrisT]

Don't stress! Get it racked into another bucket or demijohns or straight to bottles when you can.

The world won't end if it's left too long, will it affect the final product? Let us know when you've done the sampling.