When we built Red White & Bubbly we installed what I believe is the largest climate controlled room in New York City for fine wines. People often ask why we went to the trouble and the expense just to keep wine at 55 degrees and at 50% humidity, and if they need to keep their wines under those conditions at home.
Let’s take a look at how wine can go bad and what we can do to prevent it, and see how that brings us to a better understanding of how to protect our bottles.
The Enemies of Wine are:
Oxygen: contact with air. When air gets into a bottle of wine the wine begins to oxidize. White wines brown, red wines fade, all will take on a Sherry-like nose. To keep the air out, keep the seal tight: store bottles of wine on their side so that the corks stay wet. As cork dries out it shrinks, allowing air into the bottle. Cases of wine can be stored with the bottles upside down, standing on their heads, for the same reason.
Extremes of heat and cold. Wine can become “cooked” by being stored at too high a temperature, and it doesn’t take long for the damage to occur. Forgetting about wine left in the trunk of a car on a hot summer day can be disastrous, and seeing bottles stored atop a refrigerator in an apartment causes me to cringe. Heat rises, so lower is better. Wine can also suffer from being held at too low a temperature. A bottle put into the freezer to chill quickly and left in a bit too long can turn from delicious to flat and lacking flavor, as can a bottle left in a refrigerator for a few months.
Wide fluctuations of temperature. Wines storage areas that fluctuate in temperature by even 10 degrees daily can damage your wines. Steady is better! Coming home to a hot apartment and turning the air conditioning low isn’t good for your wines.
Sunlight. Wines are put into green or brown glass bottles to keep out the harmful effects of sunlight, so keep your bottles out of the sun’s rays. Fluorescent lights, too, can destroy wine. A closet is better for your wines than a shelf, even if it means not being able to show off your collection.
Lack of humidity. Keeping your corks from drying out is why we are concerned with humidity. Too much humidity can encourage mold on the label, but won’t harm the wine. Too dry an environment can dry out corks, allowing wine to seep out and air to get into the bottles.
Vibration. As wine ages, pigment, tannin and other components of wine link up to form long molecules called polymers. These form sediment and precipitate to the bottom of the bottle (you can leave them behind when you decant older bottles) and this process is necessary when you are aging wines. If you live over a subway line, for example, plan on keeping your finest wines somewhere where they won’t be shaken up day in and day out.
So, how should we, ideally, store our wine? Wines that are going to be held for aging, especially better wines and older vintages, should be stored on their side, away from sunlight and fluorescent light at a constant 55 degrees Fahrenheit, at 50% to 60% humidity, and free from vibrations. These are the conditions found in a cave, and that is why underground storage has long been considered the ideal. When you build your next mansion, insist on an underground cave for your wine cellar. Until then, what can we do?
Find a cool place in your home that’s away from light. I had an apartment with a closet that I turned into my wine cellar (anything over four bottles you can call your cellar) by adding a wine rack and stacking a few boxes. Keep the wines that you’ll be holding onto the longest on the floor, or close to it. Keep the door shut unless you’re getting a bottle or putting one in. If you are getting serious about wine and want to protect your investment, consider either a wine cooler (they look like refrigerators) that is made for keeping wine, or buying a cooling unit that can turn a closet or a walled off section of a room into a cellar.
Most of the wines we buy are pretty sturdy and forgiving: you should see the conditions they’re often shipped under! I’ve kept plenty of wines in my apartment for years by following these few, common sense rules. Remember the enemies of wine, and do whatever you can to avoid them: you will not only save money because your wines have not gone bad, but you’ll be rewarded with the pleasurable experience of drinking wines that have matured and developed with time.
