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Storing wine is what we’ll be looking at in this part of our wine 101 guide…

The first thing you need to know when it comes to wine storage is to place your bottles on their side somewhere relatively cool and free from direct light. Doing so will minimize damage (mainly in terms of deterioration of taste and flavors) to the wine and allow you to store it for as long as you desire. Still, learning a bit more about wine storage can help you maximize your wines quality.

Temperature is the most important factor to pay attention to. Keeping your wines between 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal; though a range of 45 to 65 degrees is considered acceptable. A lower, colder temperature causes the aging process to slow down, preventing the wine from aging properly. A higher, warmer temperature causes premature aging (not in a good way).

The worst thing you can do to your wine is subject it to varying temperatures. It’s much better to keep your wine at a constant temperature, even if it is too high or too low, than to subject it to large fluctuations every day. The temperature should never fluctuate more than 5 degrees a day, especially with red wines, which suffer more temperature-related problems than white wines.

Keeping track of humidity is also important in wine storage; if the air in the storage area is too dry, the corks of your bottles will dry out, and the air will come in contact with the wine and damage it. Keeping your humidity level at around 70 to 80 percent is ideal for wine storage, and you can track this with a hygrometer.

A wine cellar is obviously the best place to achieve these optimal conditions, but due to their cost and the space they take up, they’re not an option for most. A basement or garage can be used to get similar results though. Just install a wine rack in one of these locations and include a thermometer and and temperature / humidity guage to keep track of conditions.

If you’re wondering how long to store your wine for, the answer is complicated; many factors contribute to storage length, not limited to the production technique, style of wine, and region where it was produced. However, a good rule of thumb is to age reds for up to 10 years and whites for no more than a year or two. If you’re starting out, consult a free online aging chart to to assist you with this aspect of wine storage.

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 11:36 am and is filed under Food and Drink: Wine Spirits. 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.