No one likes bad wine or a compromised wine taste. So, what do you do when you have 10 or 500 bottles of wine in your home and want to preserve their quality? There are numerous ways of storing wine at home. Wine is a delicate beverage, and some factors can affect its taste even when it’s tied up in a bottle, changing its ultimate flavor into sour vinegar. Some people have this notion of preserving the wine to induce the aging effect. So, let me sort this out; only a few varieties of wine benefit from long-term aging. Most wines taste their best within a few years after its release.
So, you want the best taste out of your wine but not planning to drink it right away. So, better store it in a proper way to restore its original flavor. Just follow these simple guidelines and preserve your wines without tampering with their excellent taste.
Keep it Chilled for Some Time
The average room temperature is never conducive to serve or store fine wine. The number one enemy of wine is – heat. If wine gets exposure to a temperature higher than 70° F, your wine will age in no time. The preferable wine storage temperature should range between 45° to 65° F. If wine gets exposure to high heat, the cork may dry out to allow in oxygen, which is another wine’s enemy. You can also keep your wines in the refrigerator, but only for a couple of months.
Keep it Away from Sun
You should also keep your wines away from direct sunlight, intense light or fluorescents. Leave direct sunlight to grapes while on the vine. Bottled wine, however, is susceptible to UV light like that found in direct sunlight. You should also know that your household light emits heat that is not good for wine. Moreover, Wine should not be stored next to the windows or any source of natural light. To preserve its desirable taste, always store wine in dark, dry places.
If you find it hard to do this, look for the best wine rack and use clothes to wrap the bottle loosely. Storing wines in cabinets requires UV-resistant doors or stable doors made from wood that doesn’t allow light to pass through. That’s the reason for using colored glass bottles to store wine as they act like sunglasses to shield wine from light.
Keep Bottles Sideways
You may get that temptation of filling the cabinet with wine. Although standing the bottles up may save you space, but if the bottle has a cork top, it’s better to lay the bottle down sideways. The reason being standing the bottle up may dry out the cork creating space for oxygen to get in and spoil the wine. The cork should be moist all the time. But if you intend to drink soon, you don’t have to store them on their side. It’s also exceptional for screwcaps, plastic, or glass corks.
Check Humidity Levels
The humidity levels should also be moderate – about 70 percent. The reason being, arid conditions may dry out the cork allowing air to get in and spoil the excellent win. To maintain a humid state, store a pan of water underneath the storage area. However, extreme humidity also has its disadvantage of causing mold. Although this won’t affect an adequately sealed bottle, but may damage the label.
Check the Expiration Date
Contrary to what many think, not every bottle of wine is meant to age. The majority of them won’t even last for two years. You should have your wine within this period, yet if it has no expiration date. For those looking for a bottle that gets better with age, select a few bottles from an experienced wine vendor. The wine should have a great balance between tannins and sugar levels. Most reds can last for two or three years, while white wine can be stored for one or two years.
Keep it away from Strong Odors
The odor is also another influencer of good wine. If possible, keep wine away from the kitchen. If you don’t know wine breathes through the spongy cork. Therefore, you shouldn’t keep it next to a trash can and a strong odor of food. These odors can penetrate the corks, leading to damaged wine. The designated area for storing wine should be a dark room or closet, away from potential contaminants like laundry detergents and other cleaning products.
Avoid Vibrations
Should wine be refrigerated? Yes, but only for a short while since vibration from the fridge may damage the wine over time. Fridges also have food odors that may harm the wine, if stored for days. Vibrations from the fridge damage the wine’s chemical structure, disturbing the sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Fridges are not the only household appliances that can damage wine but also items like washing machines, dryers, boiler or rooms that receive frequent vibration from traffic.
Keep Wine in a Wine Fridge
It may be hard to find a room that has all the qualifications mentioned above. So to keep your wine safe, get a wine refrigerator. It is also called a wine cooler. Comparing wine coolers to usual household fridges that are used to keep the food dry or cold, wine coolers have temperatures of between 50-60˚F (10-15˚C). The humidity is also kept at the right levels. Wine Cooler also keeps food odor away that may contaminate the wine.
Preserve Open Bottles Cautiously
An opened wine, if stored properly, may last for 3-5 days. To retain its usual rich taste, you need to recork the wine again. For this, keep the cork tight and place some wax paper around the cork after that slide it down to its original position. In the other case, if the cork gets damaged. In this case, use a rubber wine stopper and ensure that it’s clean to avoid contamination. A vacuum pump can also be used to keep the bottle airtight.
Keep it at a Convenient Spot
Moving the wine around is also not good, just like fridge vibrations, as it may damage the wine structure. Picking the bottles and putting them back on their side is also not good. Try placing the wine where it’s easy to pick one bottle without disturbing the other wine bottles. Don’t stack wine bottles on top of one another as this will lead to disturbance to other bottles when you want to retrieve a particular brand.
Final thoughts
If you want to enjoy your wine for long, follow these tips to the later. These tips will shun your worry for your wine getting flat. One last suggestion of how to store wine that I almost forgot is, buy your wine in moderation. There is no need to buy wine that you won’t drink shortly. Until we meet again, have a fabulous wine experience!