How to Store Wine Properly
Each bottle of wine is like a delicate flower and requires extra special care if you want it to bloom properly. This is especially true when it comes to storing your wine. While many people store their wine in a pantry, cabinet, or the refrigerator, these are not generally the ideal locations for wine to grow and thrive. Since most of us aren’t lucky enough to own a wine cellar, there are other less expensive methods for storing your wine properly. The most important things to remember about storing wine are temperature, light, humidity, and movement.
Keeping your wine at a constant temperature is probably the most important factor in storing your wine properly. The most ideal temperature for storing wine is 50-55ºF. Wine stored at approximately this temperature will not age as quickly as those kept at a warmer temperature. Fluctuating temperatures are even worse for wine storage, so never keep your wine near a heating vent, air conditioning unit, or oven. While most people don’t keep their homes at 50-55ºF, you can find places that are cooler and have fewer fluctuations, like an insulated basement, a cabinet under the stairs, or even an empty fireplace. If you do choose to store your wine in one of these spaces, keep them in a wooden box or even wrap them up in a blanket for insulation. You should never keep your wine in the kitchen, garage, or attic because these areas tend to have drastic temperature changes over the course of a year.
One of the biggest dangers to your stored wine is light exposure. Ultraviolet light can travel through the bottle and change the chemical balance inside the wine. This is why it is absolutely essential that your wine storage area is completely free from sunlight. There are no windows in wine cellars for a reason! Even if you can’t find a room that is entirely free from sunlight, you can at least protect the bottles by placing them inside a box, drawer, or cabinet.
Humidity control is often overlooked when it comes to wine storage. Humidity is your cork’s biggest enemy. Drier air will cause a cork to dry out and let air into the wine bottle. When this happens, your wine doesn’t stand a chance. Humidity levels should ideally be kept at around 60-70 percent. However, this may be difficult to achieve if you don’t have a room dedicated to wine storage. Underground basements are probably the moistest part of the house, but don’t forget that you have to be concerned with temperature fluctuations as well, so just make sure you find a place in your home that is not too dry.
Wine is also very sensitive to movement and vibration. You should never, ever store your wine on top of a refrigerator or any other appliance that that moves or shakes. Even keeping a bottle of wine inside the refrigerator for more than a week can damage the wine. Not only does the vibration of the refrigerator motor disturb the wine, it is also too cold of an environment for wine to be stored long-term. Agitating the wine inside the bottle too much will kill the wine way before its time.
Of course, the best choice for storing your wine is to purchase a wine rack, wine cooler, or a wine cellar. Wine bottles should always be kept lying on their sides or upside-down in order to keep their corks moist. Owning a wine rack will allow you to do this, plus it keeps your wine well-organized and more easily accessible.
No matter what you ultimately choose to do with your wine collection, just try keeping it in the least harmful conditions as possible. After all, unless you’re buying very expensive or rare bottles of wine, you’ll probably want to open them within six months to a year to drink them rather than just looking at them sitting there. Remember, there’s no better time to uncork a bottle of wine than now.
