Keep your wines safe, until you’re ready to drink them by following 8 simple steps:
- Keep them in the dark: Keep wines away from strong lights and direct sunlight as they may degrade and prematurely age while causing unpleasant flavors to develop. This is the reason some winemakers choose darker coloured bottles as they act as sunglasses!
- Lay them down: cork-sealed bottle of wine should be stored on its side, to ensure the cork remains in contact with wine. Otherwise, the cork will dry out, while letting the air in and allowing the oxidization of the wine. It is also a space-efficient way to store your bottles.
- Keep it cool – yet not too cool: the temperature of the room where you store your wines should be as constant as possible. Heat is enemy number one, as it may boil, cook and kill the wine. Fridge is ok for a month or so. Likewise, freezer should be avoided, as when wine turns into liquid it could expand enough to push the cork out.
- Ready – steady – drink: it is better not to move the wine, once it is stored. Vibration could damage it, as well as disturb the sediment in older wines, making them unpleasantly dull and gritty.
- Humidity is your BFF: dry air can lead to dry cork, which leads to over-aerated and possibly harmed wines. Be careful though: overly damp conditions may lead to the creation of mold which can also result in destroyed labels.
- Aroma free area needed: wine has the superpower of breathing from inside the bottle. Avoid storing anything that has a strong smell next to the wine as it may trespass through the cork. Nobody likes garlic infused wines!!!
- Not all wines improve with age: make sure you do not over-age your wines. The circle of life is different for each one of them. Identifying the potential ageing of the wine, however, is another topic for another post.
- Enjoy properly: by the time you have decided to drink your stored wine, make sure you spend some time to reach its proper serving temperature. For more information on this topic, click here: http://www.wednesdaymorningcoffee.com/keep-summer-out-of-your-glass/
See you next week!
Until then.. Strike for a glass half full !
Nicole x
