Wine Storage

One bottle. One case. One thousand bottles. What’s the best way to manage wine once you bring it home? Quaff it now or hold it for later? How long can last night’s open bottle last? Getting the most bang for your wine buck requires a bit of thought and organization but let’s face it –the topic of wine storage is about as sexy as arranging your sock drawer. Why bother?

A Home for Wine

Picture a wine cellar. Does that mean a dusty collection, deep in the damp bowels of a medieval castle? Maybe a gleaming stainless steel fridge with hundreds of perfectly racked bottles? A closet under the stairs or a spot in the basement in between the holiday decorations and the camping gear? These are all wine cellars and each one has good and bad points. Wine is a living thing. It responds in different ways to the environment where it lives, just like people or animals. A good home for your vino assets is a wise investment in your drinking pleasure.

Wines and Aging

In 2010, wine drinkers in the United States surpassed those in France as the world’s largest wine consuming nation, snapping up 330-million cases at a price tag of roughly $30-billion dollars. The vast majority of wine sold worldwide is consumed within 48-hours of purchase. Only a tiny fraction of wines ever see any significant time being aged, or need it. The simple fact is that most winemakers today craft products that are supposed to be consumed young and do not benefit from more than a year or two developing in the bottle. There are of course, always exceptions. Ask when you buy if the wine is suitable for aging.

A White Wine Kiss

When it comes to white wine storage, just think of a nice kiss. That is, the KISS principal: Keep It Simple Stupid. It works for most things in life, including how to treat your wine right. If you’re going to drink something in the next few weeks and it is white or pink, stick it in the fridge. When the drinking lamp is lit, remove it and allow the wine to warm up before it is served. Drinking whites at or near fridge temp shuts down delicate, complex flavors. The only exception might be sparkling wines which most people prefer quite well-chilled.

Sleeping Reds

Red wines should never see the inside of a kitchen refrigerator for longer than fifteen minutes. Do not store unopened reds in the fridge. Reds of all types and whites that are in the “drink later” category need only two things: stable temperatures and darkness. That does not mean you need a perfect 55-degree, humidity controlled, hermetically sealed chamber that ensures pitch-black conditions for your bottles to rest. Find a quiet indoor closet, a dry corner of the basement or an area in your pantry where the wine can sit undisturbed. If the wine came in a cardboard box or foam shipper, leave it there. Lay each bottle down on one side so a little of the wine touches the cork. The cork does not need to be fully immersed. That’s all there is to it.

No Highs or Lows

A few caveats: Know your climate. Life in an igloo or a tropical rain forest where wine is exposed to very high or low temps is not good. Try to keep conditions as constant as possible. A little light does not hurt anything, but direct sunlight is bad. Know how your wine is sealed. Wine in a box or those with synthetic closures will not benefit from aging. The jury is still out on how screw caps affect the aging process. When in doubt, drink those puppies.

Leftovers

When it is time to drink that big red you’ve been saving, think again about temperature. Reds are best when they are served slightly cooler. A few minutes in the fridge may be needed on a warm day. If the wine is very old or you can see sediment in the neck, allow the bottle to stand for a few hours before opening. At the end of the evening if there is anything left, red or white, turn the cork over and put it tightly back in the bottle to reseal. Place in the kitchen fridge. Do not store open wines on the counter. The fridge will slow down the process of oxidation. Most wines will do fine for one to three days after opening.

Cellar Management

If you are truly a wine geek who has hundreds or even thousands of bottles, things do get more complicated. What a delightful problem to have. The same principals of controlling light and temperature remain the same. Organization becomes more critical to ensure wines get consumed before they become funky antiques. Try an online program such as Cellar Tracker to get real-world feedback from other wine drinkers, as well as inventory management help.

Drink Now Bucket

Not a fan of the systematic approach? Make sure your man cave has a small wine fridge (not a beer cooler) and designate this as the “drink now” bucket. Sort through your long-term wine storage area and select enough wine to drink for a week or two. Keep these in your drink now bucket. Replenish this regularly so that fabulous old Barolo or expensive trophy wine gets into your glass at its peak.

About the Author

Lee Asbell was born in upstate New York in 1961 and grew up in New Jersey, Florida and Colorado. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor’s degree in Art History, Lee’s writing career began in the corporate marketing communications field. A passionate wine enthusiast, Lee and her husband Jim purchased a vineyard in Mendoza, Argentina in 2006. Her first book, Malbec Diaries, offers readers her witty perspective on a wide range of topics related to the process and pitfalls of starting a small wine business while living on the opposite side of the world.  To learn more, go to http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Asbell/e/B004OZVJ0C/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

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