Store Wine Properly
A simple method of wine storage is to keep your bottles sideways in a dark place away from heat or light. Doing so will minimize damage (mainly in terms of deterioration of taste and flavors) to the wine and allow you to store it for as long as you desire. However, knowing a bit more about wine storage will help you get the best out of your bottles.
Temperature is the most important factor to pay attention to. Wine should normally be stored between 50-60F, although a range of 45-65F is considered OK. If your temperature is too low, your wine will not age properly. Whereas, warmer temperatures can cause wine to age prematurely (not in a good way).
The worst thing you can do to your wine is subject it to varying temperatures. It’s much better to keep your wine at a constant temperature, even if it is too high or too low, than to subject it to large fluctuations every day. The temperature should never fluctuate more than 5 degrees a day, especially with red wines, which suffer more temperature-related problems than white wines.
Humidity is also important as, unless its properly maintained, it can cause the cork to dry out, and this allows air to come into contact with the wine (which damages it). Try to keep your storage areas humidity level at around 70 to 80 percent, you can buy a hygrometer to keep track of this.
A wine cellar is the ideal place for storing wine because it maintains the optimal humidity and temperature; however, they aren’t practical for most people because of their size and cost. However, you can mimic the conditions of a wine cellar in a basement or garage. Making some space in either and purchasing a wine rack and temperature / humidity gauge are highly recommended if you intend on storing more than a few bottles of wine at a time.
If you’re wondering how long to store your wine for, the answer is complicated; many factors contribute to storage length, not limited to the production technique, style of wine, and region where it was produced. In general though, you should drink whites quickly and age reds for five to 10 years. If you’re starting out, aging charts (which are available free online) can help you see when a wine is typically best enjoyed.
