Wine Insiders |

If we always got what we wanted we would all wish for a lovely air-conditioned and air-circulated wine cellar. This would allow you to leave them well alone and yet know that they were in the best conditions for aging just right. This is very rarely a reality however and the majority of us just try to make the best out of what we have. Here is some top advice for storing your wine collection properly.

Location. Your bottles, both white and also red wine, are best placed in a cool room, away from the light and with moderate humidity levels. The most efficient temperature for storage of your bottles should be between 10° and 16° C (50° to 61° F).Anything higher than this will lead to a decrease in wine quality but anything higher than 25° C will seriously damage the wine’s flavors and body. If direct sunlight can hit the bottle, this can cause bleaching of the wine as well as an increase in the temperature inside the bottle. The humidity levels of the air found in the storage room can have dramatic effects on the cork, causing it to swell or contract. This can cause air to enter the bottle and cause oxidation, a problem that occurs when  wine is in contact, for a prolonged time, with oxygen.

Positioning. You should lay the wine bottles on their side or slightly elevated when in storage. This is down to the fact that if there is no liquid in contact with the body of the cork for a sustained period of time it will dry out and contract. These again can lead to oxidation as mentioned before.

Display. You’re not going to want you wines to stay out of site forever. Sometimes you want to display them and show them off. A good choice would be a wooden wine cabinet as these tend to maintain a steady temperature and always go for one that lets you store your wines on their side.You don’t want any that well jeopardise the thermoregulation of the wine so avoid cabinets with glass panels or doors as these trap heat.

Tags: display, drink, home, red wine, temperature, white wine, wine storage