Introduction

According to Mark Roemer Oakland, if you don’t store your wine collection properly, it may start tasting like vinegar and lose most of its flavor. Fortunately, you don’t need to spend exorbitant amounts on expensive wine cellars. Let’s check out the best techniques to store wine bottles in your home. 

The Discussion

1. Store them at the right temperature – You need to store wine at the right temperature. If the temperature is too cold or warm, it can spoil the wine very easily. There’s no set temperature for all wines. Different types of wine require different temperatures for storage and that means you can’t store red and white wine in the same place. Make sure to store:

• Red wine at 45 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• Sparkling wine at 39 to 43 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• White wine at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• Fortified Wine at 55 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Whatever you do, make sure not to shove your wine bottles in the freezer. Your wine should never be stored below 25 degrees. Otherwise, it can freeze, and the ice crystals can mess up the delicate chemistry of the wine. Similarly, your wine bottles shouldn’t be stored above 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Above that temperature, the aroma rendering volatile compounds starts getting destroyed and the wine’s aging process is accelerated. 

2. Store them horizontally – You may not buy a fancy wine cellar and decide to just store the wine bottles inside a small and practical refrigerator. However, you’ll still need to buy wine racks so that you can store the wine bottles horizontally. That way the wine inside the bottle remains in contact with the cork and keeps the cork moist. When you keep the wine bottle upwards on its base, the cork dries out, starts to shrink, and allows in the surrounding air that can ruin the wine. 
3. Keep them away from vibrations and UV rays – If you live in a fairly cold climate, you won’t need a fridge to store the wine. However, you’ll still need to keep them away from direct sunlight that’s full of ultraviolet rays. UV rays react with the wine molecules and change their aroma and flavor for the worse. You’ll also need to keep wine bottles away from sources of vibration like speakers, dryers, and washers. The vibrations agitate the sediments in the wine bottle and cause complex reactions that make the wine’s flavor dull. 
4. Check the humidity levels – The ideal humidity level for storing wine is around 50 to 70 percent. Too high or low humidity can alter the wine’s quality. Low humidity dries and shrinks the wine cork and exposes the wine to oxygen. High humidity encourages the growth of mold and mildew on the cork and may penetrate into the wine to make it completely useless.    

Conclusion

Mark Roemer Oakland suggests that you use the above-mentioned tips and store wine bottles more efficiently. Whether you have a regular wine bottle from the supermarket or a prized vintage that you got as a gift, storing them properly preserves and enhances their flavor.

Dustin Mullins