Wine Storage
From the ancient times till the present time, people are in the habit of drinking wine and enjoying it. Nowadays, generally people buy their supply of wine from the local grocery stores, which are stocked in wine racks. But, they do not know how to store the wine properly. Wine, when stored properly, would last for a very long time. While storing wine it should be kept in mind to avoid exposure to light and heat and from vibrations. One should also keep it in their mind different types of wine may require their storage in different ways. All these points should be kept in mind while storing your bottle of wine.
For proper storage of wine, following steps should be kept in mind:
Learn the basic rules of wine storage
It is quite simple to learn the basic rules regarding wine storage. If they are followed properly, you will avoid the situation of your fine wine getting spoiled. These rules are:
- All wines should be stored away from light, especially exposure to direct sunlight and light from fluorescent tubes. Exposure to these kinds of light oxidizes the wine or makes wine loose its flavor. If it is not possible for you to store the bottle completely away from sunlight, a cloth may be wrapped around the bottle lightly or the bottle may be put inside a box away from sunlight, if possible.
- Wine bottles that are corked should be stored on its sides. If they are stored upright for quite a long time, the cork becomes dry enabling air to come in contact with wine ultimately spoiling it. If the bottles are stored with their labels up, you will be able to notice formation of any sedimentation over a period of time, at the time when you go to pick up the bottle.
- The temperature of the bottles stored should not be allowed to go beyond 75º F for a prolonged period of time. It is because of the reason that wine starts to oxidize at temperatures above 75º F. If wine is required to be stored for ageing may be for more than one year, some amount of refrigeration will be required at most of the places even if the place is a cellar located below the ground. It is considered that 54º F is the ideal temperature for storing a variety of wines.
- The temperature should remain steady at the place where wine stored. Even if there is a change of temperature, it should be done gradually. It is better to have less variation of temperature even if it is nearer 75º F. Rise in temperature causes wine to force out through the cork and temperature drop causes air to be sucked in. Higher the variation in temperature, higher the chance of wine getting spoiled. It may also lead to premature ageing and overbreathing.
Wine is to be stored safely
It will not be a problem if you are storing wine for a short time. But, if you are thinking of storing wine for a long time for ageing, you should ensure that it is stored at a safe place. The place should be away from light and heat, nobody should be able to take the wine away for drinking and safe from the hazards of breaking, cracking or accidentally getting dropped.
Keeping it in wine cellar
There is no worry for people who have a wine cellar for storing wine. It is as simple as placing the wine bottle on the cellar rack and then closing its door. But, you should have some kind of system by which location of each bottle stored could be found easily. Otherwise, you will have to waste a lot of time to locate a particular bottle in your cellar.
Making a temporary wine cellar
Digging a large hole in the basement could make a temporary wine cellar. But, it will require a lot of your effort. You may think of doing so if you are very enthusiastic about wines or you want to store a large number of bottles for quite a long time.
Making a closet cellar
Those people, who drink wine on a regular basis, may convert one of their empty closets available in the ground floor for this purpose. It may not cost you more than 200-300 dollars.
Opened wine bottles to be kept in refrigerator
An opened bottle of wine could be stored safely in refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. But, the cork in the bottle should be put tightly. The idea is that there should be as little contact with air during storage.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 11:38 am and is filed under Wines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.