Wine Storage

Wine improves with age, especially as regards to aroma and flavor. This is why wine connoisseurs place so much importance on correct wine storage. A wine cellar is a place where wine is stored. This can be a large basement area especially reserved for wine storage or it can be any other convenient corner in the house. You can also purchase portable refrigerators that can maintain the desired temperature and humidity for storing wine. A portable wine cellar will be cheaper than installing a full-fledged wine cellar in your basement, and both saves space and can be easily transported to a different location if needed.

There are various reasons why people start a wine cellar. They are very particular about drinking the right wine with the right food and, unless you live above a well-stocked wine shop, it is more convenient to have the wine at hand in your own cellar. Another factor is cost - buying new wine in bulk or in cases is much cheaper than buying well-aged wine by the bottle.

History of Wine Storage:

The Romans were perhaps the first people to understand the principles of wine storage. Before that people used to prefer new wine over old wine, as, due to poor storage conditions, stored wine more often than not spoiled and became non-conducive for drinking. Then the Romans discovered that if wine was stored in air-tight containers, plugged with corks, and kept in cool, dark and dank cellars, it did not spoil and in fact improved with the aging. Some Roman wines, stored in this manner, kept beautifully for over a hundred years.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, interest in wine storage methods waned and eventually was lost. Until the 14th or 15th century, that is, when wine began to be stored in cork-stoppered glass bottles. However, glass bottles were very expensive and so too storing wines. In Great Britain, during the reign of James I, in one of the early examples of eco-conservationism, glass-makers were ordered to do their bit to save British forests by using coal instead of wood for heating the glass-making furnaces. As it turned out coal helped produce higher temperatures than wood-fires and the glass-makers could make stronger and darker glass bottles that proved far better for wine storage.

Factors for Wine Storage:

Here are some things to be considered for wine storage -

• Place of storage. Should be a separate area not much open to traffic or disturbances. Make sure you don't store vegetables, fruit, cheeses, other foods capable of fermenting and paints here. Their smells can seep in through the cork and contaminate the wine.
• Calm. Too much noise and vibrations can adversely the quality of the wine.
• Light. Keep away from direct sunlight, preferably in a darkened place.
• Containers in which wine is stored. Dark glass bottles are recommended.
• Stopper used to close the containers. Cork is recommended.
• Placement of bottle. Wine bottles should be stored horizontally so the wine remains in constant contact with the cork and keeps it moist. If the cork dried, it would shrink, allowing the wine to seep out and oxygen to seep in, thus spoiling the wine.
• Temperature. Needs to be about 57 degrees Fahrenheit or 14 degrees Celsius. The main thing is to have a constant temperature. Too many fluctuations ruin the wine.
• Humidity. Needs to be about 70% - 80%.

All wine does not need to be stored. White wine and sparkling wines, for example, are best drunk fresh or you can chill them before serving; these are usually purchased on an as-needed basis. Red wine is the one that is generally stored. But most wines that you can purchase in wine stores do not usually require long-term aging; they are marketed on a ready to drink basis.

Opened bottles should be recorked - or closed with plastic wrapping and rubber-band, if you've lost the cork - and stored in the refrigerator and the wine will remain good enough to drink for 3 to 5 days. After that it is best if you use the wine for cooking purposes.