How to store wine at home
Once the wine bug bites you, you start purchasing more wine than you can drink in a day, and that’s where the adventure begins.
Having a few bottles of wine at home is the easiest way to ensure you’re always ready to entertain guests — or treat yourself to a glass of wine after a long day!
Whether you hold back a couple of bottles of wine or an impressive wine collection, you must store the wine properly. Storing wine at home under the right conditions ensures the wine shows its best when you pop open that bottle. There are the dos and don’ts for storing wine at home.
Do Store Wine at Home
Storing wine for future enjoyment is a wonderful way of making wine part of your life. Every bottle of wine is unique, and there’s a wine style for every occasion. Store wine for everyday enjoyment of special dinner parties. Wine can enrich your life and make your time around the table more enjoyable.
If you don’t have a few bottles lying down at home already, it’s always a great time to start. Wine is meant to be enjoyed, which sometimes means having it around ready to go. Having a small wine collection at home doesn’t have to be expensive either — there’s wine at all price points, and many of it is worth storing for a while.
Don’t Store Wine Just for Storing It
Some people have a few special bottles in storage for the right occasion. Most of the time, that occasion never comes. Having wine around for the sake of it is never the goal of a wine collector — wine is meant to be shared.
Pop open something special whenever you have guests over for dinner. Store wine to become a better host and offer a more exciting dining experience to your loved ones. Even when it’s just dinner for two, you’ll never regret opening a bottle from your cellar. Wine is noble like that.
Do Have Proper Storage Conditions
If you’re storing wine at home, ensure it’s well taken care of. Wine has a long shelf-life, especially if made to withstand the test of time, but even the most robust red wine can go bad if the storage conditions are not adequate.
Store wine in a cold, dark place away from heat or light sources. A closet or cabinet will do for the casual wine lover. Specialized wine storage units and temperature-controlled cellars might be suitable for more enthusiastic collectors. The size and worth of your collection should determine how well you’re equipped.
Don’t Store Any Wine
Even though wineries produce thousands of bottles of wine every year in over seventy countries, just a small percentage of wine is made to age. For wine to gain complexity from long-term storage, it must have a high concentration of tannins, acidity and alcohol, only achieved by fermenting premium wine grapes. Those are not easy to come by.
Although you can store any type of wine for short term enjoyment. If you’re planning to store wine for several years, source the finest wine from reputable wineries, which, of course, might be a bit more expensive than everyday wine.
Do Store Wine in the Fridge, but Not Always
The right temperature for storing wine is between 10°C and 16°C. The colder the cellar, the slower the wine evolves. A standard home refrigerator keeps its contents at 4°C. This is the ideal temperature for serving sparkling wine, rosé and refreshing white wines. And although, at this temperature, the wine will show little ageing signs, the low temperature won’t damage the wine.
What can happen is foul smells from food finding their way into the wine through the porous cork, or the cork drying out. Storing wine in the fridge is okay if it’s only for a few days.
Don’t Store the Same-Old Wines
Starting a wine collection is fun, even if it’s just a few bottles in the space under your stairs. Still, choosing the right wine for your cellar is daunting.
Most people will start by buying the same-old wines everyone has in their cellars. With so many age-worthy wines made from lesser-known grapes in less popular countries, make your wine collection a worthy representation of the world of wine. Everyone knows what Cabernet Sauvignon taste like, but what about Touriga Nacional, Nero d’Avola and Xinomavro? There are many exciting wines in your future if you look past the same-old wines.
Find Your Next Wine Acquisition in Portugal
If you’re into storing wine or want to start a small cellar, Portugal has extraordinary wine in all styles and price tags. Quinta dos Vales, a leading estate in the Algarve, Southern Portugal, is an extraordinary getaway destination for wine lovers and a source of exciting wine knowledge. The estate produces age-worthy red wine to crown any wine collection, and although it’s ready to be enjoyed, it will evolve nicely for several years.
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