Storing Your Collectibles::

Much is written about the necessity of proper storage of wine and admittedly, it can become a little overwhelming, especially if you are uncertain as to where to safeguard the investment.  First and foremost, let’s dispel the notion that you have be an advanced wine collector to understand the ins and outs of storage.  You don’t have to be an expert chef to know how to store milk or cheese.   That being said, there are few helpful tips in preserving the quality and life of your collection.

First and foremost, take a deep breath.  The good news here is that while controlling the environment of your wine collection is important, in most cases, it need not be overly complicated, expensive nor cause stress.  Remember, your wine is for enjoyment.  Let’s begin with near term consumable wines and leave to true collectibles for later.

Most wine is bottled to be consumed over the ensuing few years of release.  Remember, the wine displayed on the shelves of retail shops “live” at room temperature, room humidity and under a mixture of natural and indoor lighting.  Under the assumption that none of these environmental elements are to an extreme, you are probably just fine storing the wine in similar conditions at home for months or perhaps a couple of years.  As your universe of wines are near term consumables, be aware of the vintage year, always well marked on the bottle label.  If you accidently pick up an older vintage of a wine meant for near term consumption, there is a chance that its ideal window of drinking has come and gone, depriving you of the best that the wine has to offer.  You’d be surprised at how often a customer purchases a recommended wine without checking out the vintage.  If you’re lucky, the wine may still be fresh but why chance it?  That being said, let’s examine the basic enemies of wine freshness: extreme temperature, extreme humidity, excessive sunlight, and vibration.  Drastically alter any of these components, especially over a short period of time, and you may risk the freshness and vibrancy of your wine.

Temperature

While well beyond the text of this article, basic chemistry tells us that as we increase the ambient temperature of a reaction, the speed of the reaction increases.  With wine, this translates into accelerating the speed of the wine’s aging process.  During this process, tannins gradually soften and fruit flavors tend to fade.  Remember that in a wine, we are searching for that ideal balance of fruit, tannins and acidity.  At some point in the wine’s aging process, all three will come into balance.  If we can control that process through a steady state cool environment, that ideal balance, once reached, should last for a while. Most seasoned wine collectors and wine houses seem to agree that a 55-60 degree F storage temperature is best if we wish to slow and control the reaction and thus the aging process within a bottle of wine.  If we increase the ambient temperature to an average room temperature of 72 degrees F, the aging process of the wine will correspondingly accelerate and the time for the wine to reach its ideal balance will shorten.  If the wine is to be consumed in the near term, this should not present a problem.  If, however, the wine is not to be consumed for several years, room temperature may produce a problem child down the line, the principles of chemistry taking over.  To take it one step further, imagine the wine exposed to ambient temperature of 80 or 90 degrees F for days or weeks.  Under these conditions, it may take no more than a week or two to prematurely age and perhaps spoil the wine.  Just imagine your chagrin at opening up that bottle that you thought had a year or two to go and find it smelling like vinegar.

On the other extreme, store your wine well below 55 degrees F and the chemical reaction process slows so dramatically that it actually retards the normal aging process that releases such wonderful flavors and aromas.  So a young wine (not ready to consume for several years) and stored at 40 degrees F will not develop its full personality and flavor expressions for an indefinite period of time, leaving the wine well short of its full potential when you are ready for it (and possibly outliving you!!)  Finally, most experts agree that a rapid fluctuation in temperature risks more damage to the balance of a wine that the temperature change itself.  A ten degree change in storage temperature between winter and summer, occurring slowly over a several month interval seems to be far less damaging to the wine’s balance than that change over a day or week’s time.

Humidity

The average relative humidity for storage should be targeted at around 60-70%.  Extremes in humidity, especially low values, can impact a wine’s freshness indirectly.  This is a particular risk that we see in the desert southwest.  As we approach the April through early July time frame in Tucson, relative humidity levels can approach 10% or lower.  This exceptionally dry environment, if not countered with added humidity, risks drying and splitting the cork over time, potentially allowing for oxygen to enter the bottle.  At the same time, you have a saturated environment within the bottle just dying to escape.  All of this can add up to a tainted if not destroyed wine over time.  However, if the wine is to be consumed near term and has previously been stored properly (even at room temperature) and is of a recent vintage this should not be an issue.  Another maneuver that is helpful in keeping the cork moist is to lay the bottle on its side (see below).  Excess humidity, while potentially risking mold on the seal and cork and a bit unsightly, is usually not a significant hazard to wine freshness and balance.

Storage Position

If a bottle of wine is sealed with a cork, it’s best if you try to store in on its side.  This allows the wine to saturate the lower portion of the cork and may reduce the risk of an overly dry cork splitting.  Currently, we are seeing more and more wine closures with caps or synthetic “corks.”  In these cases, wine storage position is irrelevant.

Light

It is best to shield your wine bottles from the ultraviolet rays of sun, the rays capable of penetrating even the darkest of bottles and oxidizing the tannins.  The result can be a wine with unpleasant aromas.  Keep in mind that this is a long term process; brief intervals of sunlight penetrating the bottle should not be an issue.

Vibration

While some claim that vibrations can ruin the wine, in reality, it simply may stir up any sediment that has settled on the bottom of the bottle, returning it to the wine above.  Given some time, the sediment will succumb to gravity and resettle.

Storage and protection of long term True Blue Collectibles:  to come in Part IV

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Tags: aging, collecting, collection, humidity, lighting, temperature, vibration, vintage, wine closure, wine storage