When it comes to wine, how to best store often comes very much second to drinking it. We buy the wine but give little thought as to how to best store it – if we are buying as an investment or with the knowledge that the wine will be stored for many years, we need to be prepared to store the wine correctly in order to encourage the development of the wine whilst protecting its value.

We have partnered with Elite Wine Refrigeration to bring you an article about the key factors that need to be considered when storing wine for over a year.  A refrigerator is good for serving temperatures, but for long term storage it simply won’t suffice.

Below you will find some of the key points that should be managed when storing wine correctly, the wine requires correct storage conditions in order to encourage the development and the cork is a natural material that needs to be cared for.  Please consider the below if you are starting or expanding your current wine collection.

Consistent Storage Temperature

When storing wines for long periods of time in a traditional underground wine cellar, the temperature usually tends to remain at around 12°C throughout the year. This is because the walls insulate the cellar throughout the winter and keep it cool during the summer.

Wine should always be kept at a constant temperature to enable and allow the chemical reactions inside the bottle to occur naturally.  All wines, including; whites, reds and sparkling wines should be stored at 12°C. Quite often there is a misconception that different types of wine should be stored at different temperatures.

Storing red wine between 16-20°C for many years will rush the ageing process, not allowing the wine to fully develop. The warmer temperatures make the reactions happen much quicker than usual which can actually somewhat sour the wine.  Likewise, with white and sparkling wines, storing these types of wine at the lower serving temperatures can stunt any development at all as the temperature is simply to cold for the reactions to occur.

Avoid UV Light

Light definitely plays a major role in spoiling wine; although a glass bottle protects the wine from the damage it can cause to a certain extent – it doesn’t completely eradicate the problem. 

A prime example of how UV light can affect wine is when red wine is left for long periods of time in the window display of a wine merchants or restaurant. Over time it will gradually discolour and lose the deep red colour. 

UV light not only has a bad effect on the appearance but it will affect the taste – long periods of exposure to light badly affects natural reactions that are occurring inside the bottle.  UV light also tends to raise the internal temperature of the bottle which as mentioned in the constant temperature section will increase the speed to which the wine ages over time.

If you don’t happen to have a wine cellar, a wine cooler offers a great investment to keep your wines safe from UV light and any of the other problems that go with it.

Maintain the Humidity

Humidity is another major area of great importance when it comes to how you store your wine. This is a factor which can cause unnecessary oxidation of wine yet it can be quite easily managed.

Looking back at the wine cellar again, in this kind of an environment the humidity levels are relatively constant and tend to be around 65-85%. This has no effect on the wine itself but needs to be managed correctly so your wine isn’t spoilt.

In another instance, having air which is too dry can cause your cork to dry out; this too is another way you can damage your wines.  The cork is a natural substance and you need to do what is necessary to ensure it therefore doesn’t dry out. If this happens the tight seal that the cork creates will be lost, allowing air to be drawn into the bottle – this will lead to oxidization of the wine before it has even been opened.  Drying the cork out can also lead to the bottle leaking out.

By contrast, if the humidity is too high, the excess water vapour can lead to mould growth on the bottles. This can and will spoil the label and therefore decrease the value of the wine; this should be considered if you are purchasing wine as an investment.

Movement & Vibrations

When a bottle of wine is being stored in a cellar, very rarely is the bottle moved or will it experience some sort of vibration. This is because wines are best left untouched as vibrations can disturb the ageing process and can actually cause the wines to separate into layers of heavier and lighter elements. 

Older bottles of wine tend to be very sensitive to vibrations and some of the new world wines are now much robust than earlier wines. A regular fridge isn’t suitable for storage of wine as it will also incur some vibration and no doubt the bottles will be moved around in order to make space for other items like food and fizzy drinks.

A high quality wine fridge will be fitted with a vibration free system which basically means that the compressor is mounted with vibration reduction rubber mountings which completely remove any vibration from the compressor. 

No Nasty Odours

Odours often get overlooked when it comes to wines and wine storage. Although a wine bottle is sealed, there is still a high chance that some odours can penetrate the cork that can actually sour the wine – this is something no wine connoisseur ever wants if they have stored a bottle of wine for 5 or more years. There would be nothing worse than opening a flat wine that you would have been looking forward to drinking for a long while.

Is A Wine Cooler A Good Investment?

A wine cooler is the perfect investment to make for any wine lover and anyone who see’s wine as something of a passion.  If you don’t have your own personal wine cellar, then there are only really two options if you want to store your wine correctly:

• A wine storage specialist company with access to their own cellars/storage facilities
• A wine cooler or storage cabinet

Outsourcing your wine storage is a great idea though this can prove to be very expensive per bottle due to the nature of storing a bottle of wine. Access can be made a bit harder at times and in most cases, you will have to be somewhat organized when it comes to being able to get hold of your wine / or wines.

A wine cooler offers you instant access to drinking your favourite bottle of wine as and when you wish a to do so.  It is also highly cost effective and efficient in terms of storage capacity and cost per bottle – the initial outlay is a lot more however you will see a return on investment over time.  It is also able to offer you the opportunity to manage your wines environment with a greater overall sense of control and ensure the cabinet is working as it should rather than gambling on getting someone remotely to look after your wines.

Storing up to 300-400 bottles in your home has no end of added benefits and this can also be aesthetically pleasing when cleverly laid out and integrated into your home. Having in place a well thought out and arranged space dedicated to wine storage is far more effective than a bog-standard wine rack under the stairs. Overall, in any case, what a wine cooler will ensure is your wine is kept to a high standard at all times – in your home for your own added benefit.

There are many different types of wine coolers currently available in the wine refrigeration market. In fact, the market has become very saturated so it can be somewhat hard to spot a high-quality wine cooler from something that will last 1 or 2 years.

Elite Wine Refrigeration are a leader in the wine refrigeration market. They have been distributing wine coolers for many years and tailored their product offering to specifically offer only the highest quality wine coolers and units to the UK market.