Whether you are an occasional wine drinker with just a few bottles or a wine connoisseur with a vast collection, you’ll want to pay attention to how your wine is stored. Improper storage techniques can alter the taste and texture of your wine, causing premature oxidation and aging and degrading the general quality. Here are a few storage techniques to keep your wine in optimal condition:
How to Organize Wine
It is best to choose racks, bins, or boxes specifically designed for the storage of wine. The wine needs to stay in contact with the cork at all times, so bottles should be stored on their sides or upside down. This keeps the cork moisturized in order to prevent oxidation from over-drying.
An organizational system for your wine will help you keep track of how long it has been aging. Choose the best organization technique for the size of your collection. Keep a list of wines detailing when each was bottled and purchased. Or, try storing newer bottles to the left and older bottles to the right.
Do a little research on the types of wine you collect to figure out the ideal age of each. Some wines continually improve with age, while others begin to degrade after a certain amount of time.
Temperature and Humidity for Wine
Proper temperature and humidity are very important to keeping your wine optimally preserved. Wine storage temperature needs to be lower, while humidity should be higher.
The ideal temperature is steady and cool, ideally between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Keeping wine in lower or higher temperatures, even for a short amount of time, can alter the taste of the wine or damage the cork and cause leakage.
Humidity should also remain steady at around 70%. Lower humidity levels may cause the corks to dry out and result in oxidation, while higher humidity levels can cause mold growth.
Other Wine Storage Conditions
There are a few other conditions to consider when storing wine. Dark areas are ideal, with very limited exposure to natural sunlight. Artificial light is okay, but too many UV rays can age the wine prematurely and degrade the quality.
Wine is best stored in a still location free of even small vibrations. Excessive movement can damage the wine by disrupting the sediment. Do your best to store wine away from anything with a strong odor. Corks will not prevent the infiltration of strong smells that your wine may absorb.
The temperature, humidity, lights, and other storage conditions are all important to consider when choosing a place for your wine. If you don’t have any place with optimal wine storage conditions in your home, or if your collection has outgrown that space, check out local self storage units. Climate-controlled indoor self storage units are the perfect place to store your wine for optimal preservation.