How to store wine
So, you can tell the difference between your red and your whites… You’ve explored your pink and even your sparkling wines… And now you want to go out and buy some to test out everything you’ve learned so far in this mini-series! But how do you ensure that what you buy doesn’t go off or develop weird flavours in the bottle? For the answers to this question and lots of other questions, stick with this post!
Storing wine to protect it
It is probably helpful to think about the storage of wine from the perspective of what it is we are trying to protect it from. What are the things that are likely to cause a problem? In very simple terms these are being too hot or cold, exposure to light, vibrations, and allowing the wine to come in contact with oxygen.
Temperature
All wines, both red and white do not cope well with extreme temperatures, and should be stored at a constant temperature of 10 – 15°C (50 – 59°F). There are a few implications of this. Firstly, storing a wine anywhere where the temperature changes frequently is not going to help the wine do well. Storing wine outdoors in an outbuilding which heats up during the day and cools down at night is a big no no. Equally, putting the bottle on a shelf in the kitchen is likely also going to spoil it pretty quickly, as the fluctuating temperature from cooking is not going to maintain consistency.
When it comes to what temperature wines are served at, arriving at those temperatures needs to be done in a way that means the wine cools or heats from its storage temperature slowly. Don’t place a wine on a radiator or in a microwave (yes, I’ve heard someone say they do that!) to warm it up. Equally don’t put it into the freezer to cool it down. Both are going to result in it changing temperature too quickly. Putting in a fridge, or leaving out in a normally heated room is going to be a lot better.
Light taint
Assuming our wine is stored at the right temperature, we also want to store it somewhere dark. Keeping a wine in natural light (sunlight) or artificial light can cause reactions with the riboflavin. This causes photo-oxidisation which produces unpleasant sulphur compounds to develop (think at worst cabbage, rotten egg aromas). Last time I checked rotten eggs was not on anyone’s list of desirable smells from a bottle of wine.
Obviously, we want to store our wine in a dark environment, but what about where it was stored prior to us buying it? While the chances of light taint developing on the shelf of a wine shop are relatively low, it is possible. So if you have the choice buy a bottle from a freshly opened case over one which has been sat on the shelf for even a couple of hours.
There is no such thing as good vibrations!
Vibration can be bad for a wine for a number of reasons. Firstly, a number of processes in wine making and aging in the bottle can result in a sediment to develop. Sediment will sink and providing the bottle is carefully handled it is possible to avoid them ending up in the glass. However, vibrations are going to disturb the sediment and cause it to mix with the wine. This increases the chances of getting an unpleasant mouthful of it when the wine is served. It has also been shown that vibrations can cause the aromatics in the wine to diminish, flavours of acetone and sweetness to develop and a dulling of the flavour.
Limit exposure to oxygen
I’m not talking about storing you bottles in a vacuum filled room, but preventing oxygen from interacting with the wine. Now let’s be clear here, a small amount of oxygen during aging can be a good thing. But uncontrolled exposure is not desirable. In order to manage the amount of oxygen a wine is exposed to, winemakers have long had a perfect solution… A cork! A cork can allow a controlled amount of oxygen in (a tiny amount), but prevent a lot of oxygen exposure occurring.
However, to do its job effectively, the cork needs to remain in contact with the wine. Wine keeps it moist. AND it needs to not get so warm that it dries out (see temperatures above). The simple way to ensure the cork remains moist is to store the wine bottle on its side.
Now there is a fair bit of debate about screw tops on wine. It is actually not the case that screw tops do not allow in oxygen. There are screw top designs which can also control oxygen exposure. However, clearly a screw top does not need to be kept in contact with the wine to work. So screw top wines can be stored upright., If you do not have much space on your wine rack – prioritise the bottles with a cork in them!
How long to store wine
A myth about wine is that it gets better with age. In actual fact, most wine that is available to buy is being sold to the consumer at the point that it is ready to be drunk, and not stored. A rubbish wine is not going to get better with age. Neither are many other wines. If you have a bottle of something fresh, aromatic and light, the chances are it really isn’t going to age well.
There are of course wines which will age extremely well, and will get better with age. Generally, these are going to be wines that meet certain criteria. Firstly, they were likely quality wines to begin with. Secondly, the are more likely to have high levels of acidity. Thirdly, if they have robust tannins they are more likely to age. And fourthly, counter-intuitively wines with lower alcohol content tend to age better as alcohol is quite volatile over time.
And the wines which are most likely to age really well are sweet wines. A bottle of Recioto della Valpolicella (an Italian sweet wine) can easily age 25 – 50 years. And I am aware of sweet Tokaj wines which are over 100 years of age and still going strong. Indeed the late Queen’s Mother who lived to 101 years of age, was sent a bottle of the Hungarian Tokaj Aszu from the year of her birth every year until her death.
So, hopefully now you can begin building you very own wine collection and ensure that the wines survive. In the meantime, keep exploring this beautiful planet we live on, one glass at a time!