Wine is sensitive to temperature and light since it is a natural product produced of organic matter that changes and develops with time. Unless you like drinking vinegar, that is, you have to understand how to store wine properly if you wish to maintain the integrity of your bottles to enjoy years to come. But, if you are reading this, I doubt that fits you!
But keep in mind that, with the same importance as learning how to buy wine, we should also know about how to store wine. If you have ever saved a bottle of wine only to open it later and realize that it was mildly sour, or worse — then there is the chance that you are not storing wines correctly!!!
To get the greatest results on opening your valuable bottles, nonetheless, there are tips regarding wine storage.
How to Check Wine Aging and Spoilage
Using your senses is one of the simplest approaches to finding whether a wine has gone sour. Make sure you smell it. The wine has gone bad if it smells musty, aged, like vinegar. Take a tiny sip if the wine smells good but you’re not sure whether it’s safe to drink. It is gone bad if it tastes odd or like vinegar.
You also want to check the bottom of the bottle for excess sediment and discoloration. Make sure to check the cork as well. The wine is no more worth drinking if it smells old or moldy.
Should You Let Your Wine Age?
Not every wine is meant to be matured. Some estimations place 99% of wines in greatest taste when consumed young. Whether and for how long you age your wines comes down to taste even if you do have one of those unique wines on hand that will develop well with time.
Once you start thinking about keeping wine away for years and not months to age, then it might be time to check out cellar options where you can have the freedom of control over conditions in a place from which you just let the bottle sit until that fateful (or anxious) day when reporting time arrives.
Tips for Wine Storage
Here are some important tips and ideas on how to store wine properly for a longer period:
Maintaining A Consistent Temperature
Wine truly enjoys living at a constant temperature; hence bottle storage mostly follows that. Exposing your valued wine bottles in a hot room, then cold, then hot, etc. is the WORST thing you could do. You might wish to buy a wine refrigerator if you reside in a corner of the globe with a continental, 4-season climate and no central air. Store whites and reds together at about 55 degrees.
Keep wines away from places they might heat up even if you lack space or money to purchase a wine cooler. Honestly, the worst place wine bottles can be found—they often sit on the counter right next to the oven! Look for a cool, constant temperature spot in your basement or even a pantry shelf.
This also holds for open bottles: once they are opened, keep them in the refrigerator! (Yes, even red wines; you should store them cold; let them reheat on the counter before you drink them, though).
Keep Bottles Away From The Light
Moreover, the most damaging to the delicate molecules in wine are UV rays. This is why you sometimes get great wines in tinted glass bottles: dark glass shields wine from those damaging rays and functions as sunglasses! Think about sliding your wine rack to a shady side of your room if it faces direct, strong sunlight from a window. For this reason, also a pantry or closet is quite handy.
Store Bottles on Their Sides
Wine bottles should be kept on their sides because by continuously moistening the cork, you are less likely to have it dry out and crumble into a dustfall. Having a damp cork will help to maintain the oxygen flow over the cork nicely and even (more on that here). One wonderful idea of how to store wine is a free-standing or wall-mounted wine rack that maintains your bottles horizontally. I love two of them and have two of them; you can view more adorable wine racks at our store!
Keep Some Sparkling in Your Refrigerator Always
Alright, this might not be a how-to-store wine advice; rather, one of those things any wine-loving adult should always have at least one bottle of something decent in their refrigerator door. It’s not Champagne you will wish you had a pre-chilled, ready-to-go bottle if you have an impromptu occasion to celebrate!
Your bottles should be vacuum-pumped and refrigerated after they are open;
this will help to extend their life for several days. Buy a Coravin, this device lets you pour whatever you want without really drawing the cork. It pierces the cork with a needle, gathers your pour, and then substitutes an inert gas for the liquid. Therefore, that bottle will be great for a long time and you can drink it at any speed you choose.
In The End
At Hotspot Liquor, we know that careful storage is the key to keeping our wines’ extraordinary quality. Maintaining the integrity and taste of our first choices depends on how to store wine. Our dedication to quality starts with making sure every bottle is preserved in surroundings that reflect the best possible circumstances of a conventional wine cellar. To stop corks from drying out, this entails keeping a constant temperature between 55 and 65°F (13-18°C) and regulating humidity.
Hotspot Liquor creates a perfect maturing environment using modern wine storage technologies. While UV-filtered lighting shields our wines from damaging light exposure. Besides this, our climate-regulated buildings include cutting-edge cooling systems that guarantee consistent temperatures and humidity levels.
The careful choice of our wines reflects our commitment to excellence as much as our preservation methods. At Hotspot Liquor, we only source the best varietals from esteemed vineyards so that every bottle offers a great taste sensation.