Winerita! We like to use left over wine for margaritas!

Marinades, risotto, soups, regift it next summer at your friends BBQ.......kidding:)

Use it to make a coq au vin with white wine?

I remember once making something with a red wine sauce and my father giving me the cheapest, worst wine ever for it (it was BUBBLY and as sweet as lemonade) - and the sauce turned out wonderful, because the sugar in the wine did something chemical and turned out WOW.

make Gluwhein! It's German mulled wine and a good use for cheap wine of any color. Gently heat it (don't let it boil!) with cloves, cinnamon, and the juice of 1 orange for a warm, holiday beverage.
Alternately, I would use it to make a big pot of mussels- sautee shallots and garlic in melted butter and/or olive oil, then add a combination of wine and chicken or veggie broth (about 2 cups), salt and pepper and bring it to a boil. Toss in rinsed mussels and stir until they all open. Serve with lots of crusty bread for dipping!

I've mulled white wine before - it's tasty warm AND chilled. I haven't tried it with chardonnay though - if anything, at least it will smell nice while mulling?

Risotto and fondue.

send it to me and I'll drink it! I always serve big cheap bottles of wine when i have friends over.

How do you know it isn't "good enough" to drink if you never even tried it?

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/drink/2011/11/why_you_should_be_drinking_cheap_wine.html

Personally I'd just drink it! We drink $2 bottles of wine at my house! No shame. Other than that it'll take a lot of risotto and fondue to get rid of it.

A big picture of white sangria for a "July in December" party.

Sorry, obviously meant "pitcher". Need more coffee.

msingerman, my thoughts exactly!

But then again, if it’s a big bottle, I wouldn’t open it just for me (commitment issues), so while I say “don’t judge a wine by its label,” I also vote that you wait until warmer weather and turn it into a nice white sangria (though I‘ve also had nice “winter” sangrias that have involved cranberries and citrus).

I love the German mulled wine idea - I'll have to go out and get some cheap wine (OK, that's what we get anyways) just for this!

I'll assume you've tasted this particular wine on another occasion and hated it. So moving on, I'd definitely make a huge pot of mussels in white wine and have a few friends over to enjoy is with. Impromptu holiday party. Then you can serve some "good" wine (one that costs more than $15/bottle) and educate your friend one what's acceptable wine in your house.

There are wine mixer recipes that use chardonnay available on the web.

I would say that if this chardonnay is overly oaky, it will not make a good vinegar or be good in cooking since that flavor will stay and predominate. If it was too sweet, then vinegar is a great use (if you're not making punch out of it). Too bad you didn't start in Sept, you might have been able to use it as a gift in December.

At the holidays and New Years in particular, I find that there are open bottles of left over wine or champagne. Particularly with the champagne which is usually only a single vintner, I have no qualms of putting it into a another smaller glass bottle (4,6,8oz)and making vinegar out of it. Just having been opened overnight (I can't clean at 3am) is enough to spike it with yeast to ferment it further and let you then seal it up, and put into a dark corner of the kitchen for a few months. I often gift this vinegar back to guests who are always appreciative of champagne vinegar as a base for a good sauce or dressing.

There's lots of internet sites with directions (most over worked or selling 'starter') and even special bottles available (not needed).

I think you can also freeze ice cubes of the wine in trays to use whenever you need just a little bit of flavor for dishes. It comes in handy for me, since I don't always have a bottle of white on hand. Whatever doesn't fit in the tray, just drink! Add some seltzer and some sort of juice and you won't notice the taste!

I can't remember who did this "study" (Cook's Illustrated? ATK?)...but the point was that there's no need to cook with expensive wine. The subtleties that change a cheap/OK wine into a great wine are completely lost in the cooking process and the flavor components that wine enhances with cooking stick around.

Oh, and I also meant to suggest using it to soak cedar planks for grilling.

second the Sangria suggestion.

msingerman & Our Semi Organic Life I'm with you two!

That slate article is right on. Although I will admit, I have had some cheap wine I wouldn't drink again myself, I wouldn't let it stop you unless you've tried it before.

Also remember: Not all of your friends are at the same spot financially. It's the gesture that counts!

Sangria for sure, add some as a replacement for stock in a cheese sauce, use to deglaze a pan when sauteeing shrimp or chicken.

Whatever you do, it will probably add another interesting flavor layer.

I drink and very much enjoy cheap wine. But if you would rather use it in a different way, cook up some chicken breasts with lots of onions and mushrooms and a cup or so of your white wine. Cook until the wine thickens a bit and serve with a good bread and the rest of the wine. Yum.

Very good point amber elizabeth.

We had a party recently and a friend brought a huge bottle of red wine, which was mostly left over. My husband thought it tasted bad, and didn't want any. BTW, my friend had some of our usual red wine and raved about it, and it's only about $10 a bottle.

I think the problem is she doesn't really know that wine can taste smooth instead of harsh.

I used her leftover wine in spaghetti sauce, and it was great.

Love the sangria idea! also it's good to know you can use cheaper wines in cooking. I always thought "don't cook with wine you wouldn't drink" sounded pretty snobby. Ina Garten saying it should have tipped me off.

I thought of another option- poach pears in it! I used up a bottle of white wine I hated this way and it was great- I poached them in wine, vanilla, cinnamon, and brown sugar. I ate mine on top of oatmeal but they'd be great chopped up and tucked inside a crepe or turnover or served on top of vanilla ice cream too!

Cook with it, of course. Risotto as some have mentioned. Cook pork chops in it. Roast chicken. Yum.

White sangria

White margarita, definitely.

And then, there's also this notion that most of us can't tell the difference between a four dollar wine and a fifteen dollar wine that TheKitchn wrote up: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/wine/invest-in-cheap-wine-160146

How about cupcakes? I made some red wine cupcakes for my office for Thanksgiving with a $6 bottle of wine and they were a huge hit. Make them for work or a party. I baked some into the cake (it's not very strong) and made a ganache with a just a little wine for the frosting. Very easy.

Don't be silly, drink it! If you dont like the taste if it alone I would consider mulling it with some clove, oranges and honey.

Cheap chardonnay is perfect for white wine spritzers and you can even add some seasonal flavors like cranberry and orange. The result? A light and effervescent sparkling beverage that's the perfect solution to heavier holiday nogs and gloggs.

I have a chicken parmesan recipe that tastes better with cheap white wine than with more expensive wines.

Go figure.

whalermeg, "don't cook with wine you wouldn't drink" isn't a snobby statement. It has nothing to do with price but only the idea that if the wine tastes yucky that the food will also taste yucky after the wine is used in it. Sometimes you can salvage win that isn't to your taste but if it really isn't decent wine why would you want to ruin the final dish?

The "don't cook with wine you would not drink" myth has been pretty thoroughly disproven by many sources, to include Gourmet magazine (remember them?). The act of heating the wine changes the wine considerably, so it's just not worth the extra expense of using only high quality wine for cooking when the end result is the same.
That being said, I use lower quality white wine for making a poaching liquid, perfect for chicken or a flaky white fish (or even salmon). Just pour about 2 cups in a large pan, add enough water so it will cover whatever you’re poaching. Add a few sprigs of fresh thyme, a sprig or 2 of fresh rosemary, 2 whole, peeled garlic cloves, two cloves, about 10 coriander seeds and 10 whole peppercorns, about 2 tbsp salt and a bay leaf. Allow to cook for a minute or two before you add the item you want to poach. Skinless chicken breasts cook well in a saucepan on high for about 9 minutes or so, then I remove and immediately chop up and allow to cool before placing in the fridge. You have to be more gentle with fish, depending on the type, but normally I cook that in a shallow pan over a low simmer for about 10 mins, depending on the thickness.
I also like the earlier idea of throwing the remainder of the bottle into ice cube trays. I would use those cubes later with a little butter and salt when I sauté up come asparagus or green beans.

You could make wine jelly. It've read that even crappy wine tastes like the most amazing gourmet spread ever.