Red and White Wine Storage

Red and white wine training. Find out how red and white wine training can improve your knowledge to increase sales and make more profit. Get Wine Guide now!

Where a wine is stored

The proper red and white wine storage should be one of your highest priorities. Wine is a major investment and poor storage conditions can result in the wine becoming undrinkable. A storage area for wines should meet the following criteria:

Avoid strong light

Sunlight and other forms of strong light (such as fluorescent) can be harmful to wine if the bottle is exposed for long periods. Light can cause the wine to age prematurely. It can cause oxidation and fading of the colour of the wine; as well as fading the labels. Champagne is particularly susceptible to light and should be kept in the carton until ready to be cooled before drinking. It is not necessary to store wine in pitch blackness, but it should be protected from light as much as possible.

Maintain a constant temperature

The ideal cellar temperature is 13°C, but a small variation on either side is acceptable, say, between 10° and 15°C.

Wine can tolerate temperatures of up to 24°C, but these higher temperatures, as well as wide temperature fluctuations, can damage the wine and shorten its life. They can cause rapid maturation, lessening the complexity and subtlety of the developed flavours. An uninsulated room or a storage area which is too draughty can lead to wide and rapid changes in temperature.

Wine should be positioned away from water heaters, stoves, and heat ducts. Temperatures are lower at floor level and on interior walls; exterior walls can be affected by sunlight and daily temperature changes. Champagne, sparkling wines and white wines should be stored close to the floor where temperatures are lower.

Maintain humidity

Some humidity is desirable, but excess humidity can damage labels and impair the general appearance of the bottle.

Avoid damp and musty storage conditions. If a cellar cannot ‘breathe’ the confined atmosphere can give the wine a musty taste. Damp conditions can cause cartons and the labels of bottles to deteriorate. They also encourage cork weevils which can destroy corks.

If the atmosphere is too dry, corks can dry out and the wine will oxidise.

Maintain good hygiene

Dirt, whether it be rubbish, mould or a dirt-encrusted flooring, is a paradise for bacteria and for cork weevils which infect and destroy wine corks.

Avoid strong smells and odours

They can contaminate wine through the cork. Wines should be stored away from cupboards containing cleaning materials and chemicals.

The storage area should be free of vibration

Constant vibration which disturbs the wine can damage the flavour and for this reason, storage areas should not be located next to dishwashers or ducts for air conditioners or heat exhausts.

Cork complications

Wine continues to change after it has been bottled and shipped; even while it sits on your wine merchant’s shelves. The wine that left the producer in good condition can occasionally soil before it reaches your glass One of the most common problems is contamination of wine by the chemical trichloroanisole (TCA), produced mainly by fungal growth on the cork. Such a “corked” wine smells musty and earthy; a bit like wet, dirty socks. It tastes dusty and bitter, and its fruit aromas vanish leaving the wine with no character.

Part of the reason corked wine is common is that, as global production of wine has increased, good quality cork has become hard to find. A good cork should look and feel tight and solid while a poor quality one will feel spongy and have flaws and even holes in it. Many producers of quality wine have turned to synthetic closures and even screw tops rather than risk using second-rate corks that may taint their wines. As the role of the cork is to keep air out of the bottle there seems to be no rational reason to believe that these new closures are inferior to cork.

Oxidation

Another problem can be oxidation. If too much air has been allowed to get into the bottle then its contact with the wine will result in a flat and tired taste and a loss of fruitiness. Extreme oxidation makes the wine taste like nutty sherry. In order to prevent oxidation, producers add a preservative sulphur dioxide to their wines. However, heavy-handed use of this chemical can cause its own problems, giving the wine a “rough” feel, which is most obvious at the back of the throat, or may even make the wine smell or taste like bad eggs.

Wine racks

The ideal storage for wines is in wine racks. There are a number of storage rack systems available commercially, or racks can be designed and built especially for a particular storage area.

Wine racks should be designed so that bottles are stored horizontally, allowing the cork to remain in contact with the wine and stay moist and pliable. A moist cork provides the best seal for the bottle. If the bottle is allowed to stand upright for prolonged periods, the cork will dry out and allow air to enter the bottle, causing oxidation. Bacteria may also enter and spoil the wine.

Bottles should be kept lying on their sides with the label uppermost. Any deposit in maturing wines such as full-bodied dry reds and vintage port will then form on the side opposite to the label, making it easier to see when decanting.

The design of the rack should allow air to circulate and to permit each bottle to be removed without disturbing the bottle next to it.

If space limitations do not allow room for bottles to be stored in racks, the wine should be left in the carton until required.

Fortified wines (apart from a vintage port) and spirits should always be stored upright.

Cartons of wines and spirits should be marked with the date received and the stock rotated to ensure that older stock is being brought forward and not unintentionally left at the back. If this is not done, as the stock is depleted, these older wines start appearing, sometimes well beyond their drinking life. This is applied particularly to light-bodied white wines.

In summary, the ideal cellar conditions for the storage of wine are:

The temperature should be constant and cool.
The storage area should not be exposed to strong light.
The area should be clean and dry.
The storage area should be free from any vibration.
Bottles should be kept lying on their sides with the label uppermost.
Strict stock rotation should be used to prevent spoilage through age.
Avoid areas where the wine can be contaminated by chemical smells and odours.