Wine storage
Wine!
It’s such a great pleasure to know that there is a certain place in
your house where you store this divine drink. It’s so nice to
know that it is looking forward to your coming and taking it from the
dusty shelf and enjoying its color, delicate aroma and wonderful taste.
But for that, wine should be stored in special conditions because long
expectation may cause its deterioration instead of impovement.
If
you are going to store wine for some weeks or even for a year, the storage
will present no difficulty. Wine should be stored in a cool place, unexposed
to sunlight and heat.
If you decide on a long storage that is on seasoning of your favorite
delicate wines, in that case you should work for a while. Wine storage
lasting from 5 to 20 years and more isn’t an easy job. Though this job
isn’t to compare with that of wine-making, it proves to be more complicated
as it may seem first.
So, you need a cellar where the wine would mature unexposed to bad effects
of sunlight, heat and shaking. Even slightest vibration, e.g. of a compressor
refrigerator, may cause adhesion of numerous smallest elements in wine
(agglomeration). That forms a sediment and is the reason for wine feculence.
By no means wine should be exposed to supercooling that causes freezing.
In this case some irreversible changes occur: water is freezing out
and detached organic is precipitating. Even marginal changes of temperature
may cause harm for wine.
The best temperature for wine storage is 10-14°C and
any temperature excursions cause pressure changes in the bottle which
loose the cork and let air in or even push out the cork.
In addition to low temperature the cellar should be humid enough,
because in case when humidity rate is below 60-70% the cork may dry
up and let air into the bottle. As a result wine will oxidize. That’s
why the cellar should have ground floor that keeps natural humidity
and not concrete or stony one.
It’s very important to store bottles in horizontal position when wine
is “breathing” and at the same time such position of the bottle prevents
the cork from drying up.
It may seem strange but any unwanted scents can easily penetrate into
tight closed wine vessels. That’s why the cellar must be frequently
ventilated. If you keep vegetables, meat or any other food in the
same cellar with wine or if there is a stagnant air in the cellar
– the race of wine acquires the same flavor or even get out of order.
One more condition – the absence of light. Light brings much energy
which is able to restore sulfur oxide to hydrogen sulphide which impart
the smell of bad eggs. This process doesn’t take long especially for
champagne – it deteriorates in some hours.
So, your cellar is ready for wine storage – it is cool, fresh and
humid. You decide to place in the cellar your collection of good expensive
wines so as to open them later at the full-age party of the just-born
baby or even at his/her wedding party. But it may also happen that
on this happy day after long lasting seasoning you will not be able
to find out where what wine is because all stickers are not clear
being spoilt by humidity or disappeared at all. That’s why it is strongly
recommended to make inscriptions on the bottles with an indelible
pen and after that to place these precious drinks on cellar shelves.
Read also about Wine Serving Temperature Chart
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