One of the joys of being a wine collector is building a collection that suits your tastes and personality. But that’s only part of the equation. Storing bottles correctly is equally important. Even the best wine in the world will be spoiled if it’s not stored the right way and it sometimes only takes one small mistake to ruin a perfectly good bottle. Here’s what the team at Underground Cellar had to say on how to store wine properly.
Look for Alternative Storage Options
If you don’t know how to store bottles of wines, do yourself a favor and use a third-party service. There are plenty of online services that will allow you to store your bottles, even for free if you buy your wines from them. This will ensure that your bottles are stored professionally, but will also make things like reselling and appraising your wines easier. This will also help preserve or increase their value.
Protect Your Bottles from Light and Vibration
If you didn’t know this already, sunlight can be very bad for foods, especially wine. Too much exposure to UV light will destroy a wine’s aromas and flavors. Movement can also ruin a wine, so store it away from anything that could cause vibration, like a stereo system, exercise area, or a washer/dryer.
Store them on their Side
You may have heard that the proper way to store a bottle of wine is on its side, and it’s true. Storing it this way will keep the cork moist, which will prevent breakage and seepage. Both of these can cause wines to age prematurely. Even if a bottle has a screw top, storing bottles in this way will make them easier to access and give you more space.
Temperature
Out of all actors, storage temperature is by far the most important. The expert will usually say that 55°F is the best temperature to store bottles, but it depends on the wine. In any case, don’t store wines outside of the 25°F to 68°F range.
These tips should be more than enough to help you avoid mistakes that will ruin your wines. Wine storage is a science, so learn as much about it as you can if you care about your collection.