What kind of environment should a good bottle of wine be stored in? What should we look for in the process?
After all, it really is one of those things that when people open a bottle of wine and find that it has lost its color and that the wine’s flavor has changed, all they can do is hug a bottle and cry! But why does the wine in the living room or kitchen secretly go bad? To understand these questions, we must look at the six key factors that affect wine storage conditions (temperature, humidity, light, placement, vibration, and odor) and the basic rules and principles of everyday wine storage.
Preface: The Life Cycle of Wine
Which wines are worth preserving and for how long? The answer varies, but the key to this question is the “drinking period” of a wine. This concept is based on the life cycle of a wine. From birth, to growth, to maturation, to peak, to decay, the best time to drink wine is from maturity to peak. The life cycle varies from wine to wine due to its own quality and external factors. Some go from maturity to peak in a matter of months, while others take more than a decade or even decades.
A wine’s color reflects its age to some extent
In short, the speed with which a wine reaches its drinking age and how long it exists depends on its aging potential. The stronger the aging potential, the slower the drinking time and the longer the optimal drinking time.
Generally speaking, 80-90% of wines are suitable for drinking within 1-2 years, 10% of red wines and 5% of white wines are suitable for drinking after 5 years, and only 1% of wines need to be stored for 10 years or more to reach their optimal drinking period.
Therefore, don’t be naive and look at “shelf life” (no) to determine how long to store your wine. The phrase “the older the wine, the better it tastes” does not apply to wine either.
Temperature: but cold and too hot are right
Wine needs to be stored at a constant temperature, whether unopened or resealed after drinking.
The small amount of carbon dioxide produced during the fermentation of the wine will dissolve in the wine. High temperatures will reduce its solubility, which will cause it to precipitate and increase the air pressure in the bottle, causing the top to become clogged with seepage. At the same time, high temperatures can accelerate the normal aging of the wine and in some cases can lead to “secondary fermentation” in the bottle, which can damage the quality of the wine.
Conversely, when the temperature is too low, the wine may freeze. At this point, the volume of the wine will increase. When the cork is resisted, it can cause a bursting accident. In general, the ideal storage temperature for wine is around 12-15 degrees Celsius, but for long-term storage, it is important to keep the temperature constant and avoid ups and downs. Even a constant storage temperature of 18 degrees is more intense than a constant fluctuating temperature of 12-22 degrees, otherwise your wine will become rough and messy.
Humidity: stability is the most important thing
Although humidity does not have a significant impact on the maturation of your wine, too dry a storage environment can compromise the sealing properties of the cork – prolonged “dehydrated” air can cause the cork to dry out and shrink due to water loss, causing the air entering the bottle to Air oxidizes the wine, accelerating the aging process or causing the wine to evaporate. However, if you put it in your mouth, the wine is afraid of melting. If you put it in the palm of your hand, it is afraid of breaking. Humidity is also detrimental to the storage of wine. Excessive humidity can cause the cork to grow bacteria, which can lead to serious rot and mildew, affecting the quality of the wine, and the wine label can be contaminated, affecting the appearance of the bottle.
Generally speaking, a cool environment with a humidity of 70% is the long-term solution for wine storage.
Lighting: The “wine killer” UV light
Today, more and more wines are attracting attention in both large supermarkets and small convenience stores. Many of the incandescent lights on the shelves are focused directly on these bottles, which not only shine, but also worry about the oxidation of the wine caused by the light. …… UV light has a significant impact on wine storage, whether it is natural light or indoor light. UV rays from any source can alter the phenolics in the wine, accelerating normal aging, and over time, the wine becomes tannic and flabby, the aroma diminishes, and the flavor is stripped away, which is even more deadly for lighter white wines.
In addition, prolonged exposure to bright light can also cause a “faint” taste similar to dusty aromas. Delicate champagnes are often the most common victims of “off flavors,” and six months of exposure to strong sunlight is enough to “kill” an otherwise healthy bottle of wine. So if you want to preserve your wines properly, in fact, it is more lovely to give them darkness than light.
Position: Do I have to lie down?
If you want to choose the right position for your wine, you must first find out what type of wine the bottle belongs to, whether it is still or sparkling. Second, how it seals the bottle …… For still wines sealed with a cork, such as dry red, dry white, or sweet white, it is best to store them flat so that the liquid remains in “close contact” with the cork, which facilitates the sealing of the bottle. This is because the cork will be in a state of expansion after contact with the liquid, which can be a good way to prevent the intrusion of air. In addition, the small holes in the cork act as a window to the outside world, allowing the wine to breathe during its long storage life.
However, for champagne or other types of sparkling wines that also use cork, the above formula does not necessarily apply – they don’t like to lie down, but are willing to stand upright. A bottle of champagne (or sparkling wine) can reach more than 6 barometric pressures. Even if the cork is not in contact with liquid, it can still remain moist. In addition, carbon dioxide is heavier than oxygen. The advantage of an upright champagne is that it keeps the carbon dioxide at the neck of the bottle and prevents oxygen from entering. Based on the above logic, lying or standing should not be a big issue for wines where screw cap corks are becoming popular. The choice can be made according to the actual situation in the family.
The worst way to store wine is to be duplicitous compared to standing or lying. After sitting for a long time, the bottle suddenly becomes in an upright position and the cork will dry out and shrink faster due to water loss, which will not only fail to seal, but will even fall back into the bottle completely. Therefore, if you want to store your wine for a long time, you should be “single-minded”.
As for the storage of aged champagne, Ms. Meng Lei, the founder of Penang Culture, also mentioned that she went to Kruger Winery and found some very old wine collections that were stored vertically. The winery explained that this is because aged champagnes that cannot be replaced are better suited to this method to avoid infection caused by the cork being in contact with the wine for too long. In addition, the aged oak mushroom cork will become very thin, preventing liquid leakage. In fact, technological developments have greatly improved the sealing of champagnes, and champagnes with mytik stoppers do not have to worry about the effects of cork flavors. The concept of ageing has been around for at least 30 years.
Vibrations: no more
Wine is in a way a “quiet and soft woman”. She may feel sensitive and uncomfortable even with minor external shocks.
In general, vibration accelerates the oxidation and evaporation of phenolic substances in wine, leaving the bottle precipitate in an unstable state and destroying the wine’s good taste. Frequent and violent vibrations can cause a sudden rise in the temperature of the bottle and create a potential problem with the top cork. In addition, unstable external conditions (such as different types of transportation) can also increase the likelihood of bottle breakage.
Aromas: the farther away the better
Wine is like a sponge, it absorbs the surrounding flavors into the bottle. All kinds of environmental odors can drift into the bottle through the pores of the cork, gradually affecting the wine’s aroma. What about the wine?
