Everyone loves some fine wine every now and then. Over the years, wine consumption has become more popular. With more money going into wine both for consumption and as an investment, many people wonder how they can properly take care of and store their wine collection.
A wine collection isn’t hard to care for or store, it just takes the right conditions and location. Protect the quality and investment of your wine by following these best practices for storage and care.
Proper wine storage
Storing your wine the right way can lead to euphoria, but storing it the wrong way can lead to a great let down. Drinking a bottle of wine that was poorly stored could make the wine taste like vinegar. How disappointing is that?
To properly store wine, you’ll need to meet several factors, such as humidity, temperature, lighting, the cleanliness of your storage area, the angle of the bottle while it is stored, and the vibration of the bottle on the rack.
Temperature
Maintaining the right temperature is essential. You should keep the temperature around 50 degrees at all times. This lower temperature can help age the wine properly. If there are any fluctuations in the temperature, you should make sure that fluctuation happens slowly. As long as the temperature doesn’t go too much above 50 degrees, and it fluctuates slowly, your wine should be okay.
Humidity
The proper level of humidity for storing wine should be around 70%. Although it is perfectly acceptable to keep it 10% above or below the optimum 70% humidity level.
If the humidity temperature gets too high, the wine labels can easily rot or mold, which can affect the wine’s value. On the other hand, if the humidity gets too low, say around 50%, the cork could shrink and bring air into the wine, which would ruin the wine.
Storage angle
The angle that wine is stored is very extremely important. If the wine stays in contact with the cork during storage, the cork won’t dry out. However, if the wine doesn’t stay in contact with the cork, the cork could dry out and allow air into the wine.
Storage location
The optimum place to store wine is in a dark location. You should also strive to keep the wine out of the light, as light can ruin any type of wine. Light causes the wine to age prematurely.
To prevent damage to the wine from sediment (dregs or the little crystals also known as “wine diamonds”), you should store wine in a location that is free of vibration. This will give the sediment ample time to settle at the bottom of the bottle.
Vibrations are never a good thing for wine because if the sediment becomes unsettled, it can ruin the wine to the point where it tastes horrible!
All wine bottles, no know matter what brand, needs to have the proper storage in order to maintain their original flavor.
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