WINE SERVICE–Wine Storage

  • SUB-TOPICS Of WINE STORAGE
    1. What is Wine Storage?
    2. The Wine Cellar
    3. Off-Sight Wine Storage Facilities

1) WHAT IS WINE STORAGE?

The Place and Condition of the Place Where You Keep Your Wine That is Being Aged or Waiting to Be Consumed. Wine Storage is a Important Consideration For Wine That is Being Stored In the Short Term and Diffently the Long Term.

  • WHITE= 47° F. is Perfect…40°- 55° F. is Adequate.
  • RED=  57° F. is Perfect…45°- 65° F. is Adequate.

“Wine is One of a Few Commodities That Improves With Age But Can Rapidly Deteriorate if Kept In Inadequate Conditions.”

GENERAL INFORMATION TO CONSIDER ON WINE STORAGE

TEMPERATURE

  • 70% Humidity is Perfect, 60%- 80% is Adequate.
  • Room Temperature/ Chambre is 70°- 72°.
  • The Ideal Cellar Temperature is 56°- 59°.
  • Higher Temperature Increase Oxidation, Ages Wine and Loses Balance.
  • Lower Temperature is Too Cold and Wine Loses Its Flavors and Aromas.
  • Wine Will “Cook” if Stored In an Environment of Greater than 75° For Extended Period.
  • UV. Rays Degrades Wine…Color Glass Bottles Act as Sunglasses For Wine.
  • Avoid Rapid, Extreme or Frequent Temperature Swings…Aim For Consistency.
  • Fluctuation of Temperature Cause Cork to Shrink and Expand.
  • Kitchen Refrigerator is Too Cold, Lack of Moisture and Dries Out Cork.
  • If Only Two Choices You Have Are the Refrigerator and Living Room Wine Shelf, (Both of Which Aren’t Perfect) the Refrigerator is Better.

LIGHT EXPOSURE

  • Minimize Light Exposure.
    • Direct Sunlight is the Absolute Worst For Wine.
    • Indirect Sunlight Isn’t Great.
    • Long Term Lamp Lights Are Not Good Ether.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

  • Figure Out/ Determine if You Even Like Aged Wine.
  • Have an End-Goal In Mind When Aging wine.
  • Don’t Wait to Long. (Better to Drink a Wine 3 Years Early, Then 3 Years Late.)
  • Consider Whether the Wine/ Bottle is Even Aged Worthy.
    • Assess the Qualities of That Certain Wine That Helps Wine Age.
  • Keep Your Cellar/ Collection Accessible.  In Home vs. Off-Site Storage.
  • Keep Your Cellar/ Collection Organized.
  • Store Wine On Its Side/Horizontally, This Keeps Cork Damp/ Swollen and Remains Airtight.
  • Store Champagne Upright, Screw-Top Bottle it Doesn’t Matter.
  • Experiment With Different Durations.
    • If You Buy a 6-Pack/ Case, Drink One Now, Another In 2 Years/ 4 Years to Calibrate How/ Where the Wine is.

BUILDING/ CONSIDERATIONS Of  YOUR PERSONAL At HOME WINE CELLAR.

  • The Wine Has to Be Safe From Others.
  • Utilizing the Best Light.
  • Utilizing the Best Use of Space.
  • Having the Cellar Hidden or In Full View
    • Wine Wall- Allowing Wines to Be Seen Behind Glass.  Wine Walls Are Often In Sight of the Kitchen, Living Room or Dining Room and Can Add a Special Ambiance to the Home.
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY? “Do Wines Stored In Rooms With Elevated Temperature Lead to Cooked Qualities In the Wine?”
    • “Extended Time In Higher Temperature For Years On End Will Have a Negative Effect On the Wine Resulting With Some Type of Flaw.”
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY?  “Does Even a Small Wine Bleed Through the Cork Lead to Negative Effects On the Wine?”
    • “Depending On the Size and the Duration of the Bleed, Any Extended Air Contact Will Lead to a Negative Effect On the Wine.”
  • WINE & PHILOSOPHY? “Is it Better For Your Wine to Be Stored at 45° or 70°?”
    • “This is a Situation That a Lot of Wine People Are Confronted With. You Don’t Have a Wine Refrigerator  to Store Your Wine at a Perfect Temperature of 59°.  Instead You Have the Choice of Putting Your Wine In Your Kitchen Refrigerator at 45° or In Your Closet/ Pantry or Area of Your Home That is 70°.”
  • Active Wine Cellar- Actively Regulates the Ambient Temperature & Humidity
  • Passive Wine Cellar- Cellar That is Not Cooled. (Back of Closet/ Wine Rack)
  • **Refer to “CONTAINERS” For Additional Information.

2) The WINE CELLAR

HUMIDITY IN WINE CELLARS

  • Wine Cellars Are Usually Underground, the First Wine Cellars Were Dug Into Caves. In Modern Times We Attempt to Simulate Those Same Subterranean Conditions. People Know That Wine Cellars Should Be Cold by Humidity is Very Important. Ideal Humidity Level For a Cellar is 50%- 79% Relative Humidity. The Humidity Level Creates the Cool Damp Environment That’s Perfect For the Cork and Perfect For Aging Wine.

“Purpose of a Wine Cellar is to Create a Set of Conditions That Will Give Your Wines a Chance to Develop In Character Over Time to Achieve Their Full Potential Without Declining In Quality.”

MYCELIUM MOLD

  • Certain Mold/ Fungus That’s a Strain of Penicillin. The Black Mold/ Fungus is “Taken Care of” and People Are Proud of,  Can Grow In and Thrives In Perfect Conditions Underground of Cool, Damp, Wine Cellars of Near 100% Humidity. This Mold/ Fungus Changes Color From White to Black Over the Seasons and is a Sign of a Healthy Cellar.  It Lives On Its Ability to Metabolize Volatile Organic Compounds In the Air and Left to Grow Over Time Improves Cellar Air Quality.

THE SMELL Of The WINE BARREL CELLAR

  • One of My Favorite Thing In/ About the Wine World is the Smell of the Wine Barrel Cellar. From the Moment You Walk In/ Down to the Cellar You Are Met With or Engulfed by One of the Most Profound Smells In Wine Culture.  The Smell is Thick and Pungent, a Combination of Damp Oak, Washed Earth With Hints of Crushed Fruit.  The Beauty of This Aroma is That It’s Relatively the Same All Over the World.  I Have the Pleasure of Smelling This In the Port Cellars In Porto, the Cellars of Bordeaux and Many Time Up and Down the Wine Regions of California.

WINE CELLER…OTHER TOPICS

  • CELLER DEFENDER- Term Used For a Bottle of Wine Usually of Reasonably Price or Below Average Price (and Interesting)  That You Can Drink Instead of Indulging In the Temptation of Drinking Your More Age Worthy Wine That Need More Time to Reach Its Full Potential.  A Cellar Defender Wine is Usually Interesting and Good Enough to Drink Instead.

3) OFF-SIGHT WINE STORAGE FACILITIES

WHY USE A OFF-SITE WINE STORAGE 

  • You Own More Wine Bottles Than You Have Space For In Your Home.
  • Your Tempted to Drink Your Wine at Home.
  • If You Sell Your Wine You Can Provide Your Buyer Accurate Information On How the Bottles Where Being Stored and Make it Easier For a Wine Expect or Buyer to Visit Your Storage Site and Authenticate Your Bottles.

BENEFITS Of A OFF-SITE WINE STORAGE

  • You Can Store From 1 Case to Hundreds of Cases.
  • Off-Site Provides Perfect Cellaring Conditions.
  • Off-Site Provides 24 Hour Security.
  • Enhance Patience and Willpower, Not Having Your Collection In Next Room Can Reduce the Temptation of Opening That Next Bottle.

WHAT To LOOK FOR IN A OFF-SITE STORAGE

  • Do They Provide Added Security, Cameras, Guards.
  • Proper Backup if the Power Was to Go-Out or Refrigeration Equipment Was to Fails.
  • Do They Have Insurance.
  • A Record of the Historical Climate. (This is Important to Prospective Wine Buyers.)
  • Your Personal Proximity to the Storage.
  • Access to the Facility, Can You Go Any Time or Do You Have to Make an Appointment.
  • Are They Private Lockers or Are Shared Shelf Storage.
  • How Does the Facility Charge You…Per Bottle/ Per Case/ Per Entrance to Facility.

PLACES OFF-SITE WINE CELLARS ARE LOCATED

  • Warehouses
  • Brookland, England, Old WW2 Air Raid Shelter
  • San Francisco, Presidio, Old Coastal Defense Area

**Refer to “BIBLIOGRAPHY/ Sources” For Details On Scholarly Works Referenced.