Raise a glass if you’ve heard this one before.

You receive a bottle of wine as a gift during the holidays. After cracking it open, one taste says it all: this gifted wine is just awful, and no amount of holding your nose can change that. At the same time, you can’t just regift it or throw it out—nobody in their right mind “wastes wine,” no matter how “bad” it is.

I went to the pros at Union Square Hospitality Group to solve this problem: Chef Eric Korsh of North End Grill, Chef Howard Kalachnikoff of Gramercy Tavern, and Sam Lipp, general manager at Union Square Cafe. They’ve all had brushes with bad wine and had plenty of suggestions for putting those bottles to good use.

A note on etiquette before we start: “I’d thank my guest regardless of how crappy the wine is,” says Kalachnikoff. After all, “some recipes exist because somebody didn’t want to waste wine.”

Preach it, chef.

THE BAD BOTTLE: OVERLY SWEET RIESLING

Even though the riesling grape offers a huge scope of flavor, from honey-sweet to bone dry, bad rieslings nail you with one flavor: sugar. They’re way too sweet for the dinner table but don’t make the cut for dessert, either. Luckily, with a little added sharpness from mustard, you can use riesling to braise a rabbit or chicken. “You need to add enough of really excellent mustard,” says Korsh. “There needs to be a counterpoint to that ultra sweet riesling.” After browning and removing chicken, add the wine for reducing and scraping up the brown bits. In the pan, add a high-quality Dijon mustard, shallots, garlic, and, of you’ve got it, dried porcini powder, which gives the braise a deeper flavor.