Wine is a living drink that changes its taste and texture over time. To enjoy its authentic aroma, you must ensure the optimum storage conditions.
If you appreciate wine as much as we do, you certainly want to keep it in optimum conditions, so that the aroma will remain intact or gain even more personality. Beyond the rigors of aging of a chosen wine variety, there are also simple rules that guarantee the wine is kept in optimum conditions.
As a wine lover, with a few bottles of wine to your taste at home, you certainly want to know how you can make sure that the drink will retain its color, taste, and texture as time goes by. We will show you that it is not necessarily difficult to store the wine correctly so that the special wine you have at home and you want to enjoy on a special occasion will have a delightful aroma over a few months or a few years.
From the beginning, we must draw attention to the fact that a proper storage of a bottle of wine does not guarantee proper aging. Not every wine is suitable for aging and you risk keeping a bottle of wine until its contents are completely spoiled. Read the wine label, so you will know for how long you can keep the wine.
4 main aspects to consider in order to store the wine under optimal conditions
You probably already know that wine can degrade and lose its qualities if it is stored in a place where it is too hot or too cold. This is just one of the important aspects when it comes to the ideal conditions of wine storage. To ensure these conditions, you must consider four main aspects: temperature, light, humidity, and vibration. We will discuss each one individually.
What is the correct wine storage temperature
The wine is kept well at a temperature between 7 and 18 degrees Celsius, closer to the lower level for white and rose wines and closer to the upper one for red wines. Ideally, it should not exceed 13 degrees Celsius. If the temperature rises below 21 degrees and falls below 3 degrees, we are already talking about improper conditions for wine storage and we can expect a clear degradation of the aroma.
We avoid placing the bottles of wine in the freezer, whether we do it for a few minutes for accelerated or longer-term cooling. Below 0 degrees, the wine is in danger of frost and loses its flavor. It is also important not to have temperature fluctuations.
Light, an important factor in maintaining the quality of the wine
Strong light greatly affects the wine, regardless of type or variety. The wines are not stored outdoors, because the temperature is not constant, but also because it is too bright. No type of wine suits the sun. Wines should be kept in dark places, which is why cellars are ideal for them.
The humidity level recommended by oenologists
Humidity is an important aspect when it comes to storing wine. Too much moisture can cause mold spores to appear, while too dry air can cause the plug to dry out, the air entering the glass, and the wine spoiling.
Oenologists recommend that the rooms where the wine is kept have a humidity of 70%, but the drink is safe and if this value is exceeded (between 50 – 80%). It is a recommended level of humidity for our homes as well.
The effect of vibration on wine retention
In any wine, there are sediments, which must be decanted into glass or decanter. The vibrations cause these sediments to move in the glass and change the aroma, texture, and color of the wine. That is why it is ideal not to keep the wine in places where we constantly walk or intensely circulated.
In what position do we keep the bottles of wine
The wine bottles are kept in a horizontal position. The explanation for this rule is very simple. The wine bottle plugs are made of cork and in time they can dry. Drying and reducing them in size will allow air to enter the glass and affect the quality of the wine. It is therefore imperative that the liquid reaches the plug.
Where we keep the wine. Ideal places for storage
Once we know the main aspects on which the correct storage of wine depends, it is clear that the ideal places for storing wine are those where these factors fall within the limits recommended by specialists. But what are these places?
We will discuss extensively the most suitable places and accessories for wine storage, but as general directions, it is good to know that the wines are kept in a horizontal position so that the liquid reaches the plug, in cabinets or other dark places and in areas where that there is no circulating air that causes sudden changes in temperature.
The ideal space for storing wine depends largely on your possibilities. Of course, if space allows you, it is ideal to have a cellar where to create the optimal conditions of temperature, humidity, and ventilation, but if you do not have dedicated rooms and sophisticated installations, you can create perfect conditions for wine storage in the apartment. It is important to try, by the means available to you, to recreate the conditions that a producer’s cellar would have.
Equipment and accessories useful for the proper storage of wines
If you are a wine lover, you like to buy special wines and take advantage of each trip to add another wine to your collection, it is worth investing in a special wine storage accessory.
- Shelves for wine storage – are those bodies with individual places for each bottle of wine. In the warehouses and cellars of the restaurants, the wine is usually stored on these shelves on wine walls.
- Racks for wine storage – it is about those bodies that are not covered, which allow the bottles of wine to be placed in a horizontal position and which we can easily place in the kitchen of in our home or in a closet.
- Refrigerators for wine storage – ensures the ideal temperature for wine, between 10 and 18 degrees Celsius. They have individual seats for each bottle of wine.
The importance of easy access to any wine bottle
The wine storage accessories are all created with the same idea – an individual place for each bottle of wine. It is ideal that when we remove a bottle of wine from the place where it was stored, we do not “disturb” the other bottles, because the vibration and movement do not do good to the drink.
If you do not have any accessories that allow you to individually store each bottle, try to put in front the bottles of wine that you currently consume and the ones you store for special occasions in the back. At the same time, try not to move the wine bottles stored under such conditions too much, as the aroma of the wine will certainly be affected by all these movements.
Conditions for storing wine after you have opened the bottle
We all happened at least once to unpack a bottle of wine and not consume it all. You want to enjoy the day after that special liquor, so you have to store it in ideal conditions. Here are some things you should know in this case:
- Invest in a vacuum pump, which will remove the air from the glass and then prevent the air from reaching the wine.
- Store the bottle in a place where the temperature is constant and between 7 and 18 degrees Celsius.
- Keep the bottle away from the sun and light
- Consume the remaining wine within 3-4 days
- DO NOT place the bottle in the refrigerator where you keep food, because the temperature is too low. DO NOT place the glass on the refrigerator door, as the temperature changes every time the refrigerator opens.
It is not difficult at all to offer the ideal conditions for a bottle of wine. With little attention at the place of storage, you can enjoy the taste of wine even after months of its purchase.
