When discussing recycling in the wine industry, one usually thinks about packaging: recycling wine bottles, crates and cork. Now,chefs are recycling actual leftover wine in ingenious ways. In California, new products including wine vinegar and marinades for meat are made from leftover wine.

Restaurants end up with wine leftovers for a number of reasons, particularly if they sell a lot of it by the glass, something that's become more popular as have become more cautious about spending. But that trend can leave restaurants with plenty of wine at the bottom of the bottle.

Red or white wine vinegar is easy to make, and saves restaurants money. Chefs also use leftover Champagne, Riesling and sweet wine to make granitas and sorbets. According to one chef,'A side-effect of repurposing pinot and other wine leftovers is you find yourself cooking with a storied vintage that normally would never go near a spoon, like a high-end Champagne or Chateau d'Yquem, the famous French dessert wine that can command hundreds of dollars a bottle.'

Source: Associated Press