How to store wine — and know when it matters

When I wrote a few weeks ago about wineries that wait to release their wines until after they have properly aged, commenters began a spirited discussion of the best ways to store and age wine at home. So I decided to chime in with a few tips.

Most wines are not meant to age.

The old saying, “Like wine, we get better with age,” is more suited for birthday cards than reality. Most wines are not meant to age, and that reflects modern consumption: The vast majority of wine sold in the United States is consumed within days of purchase. This is especially true of wines in alternative packaging, which I’ve been writing about in the context of climate change and environmental sustainability. The freshness dates on boxes and cans are more relevant than their vintage years. Don’t even think of putting a jug of Paisano away for your newborn’s 21st birthday. The new aluminum and paper bottles are intended for convenience, low environmental impact and early consumption. Even Really Good Boxed Wine — a label of high-quality wine in box format — is meant for drinking now.

Temperature, light, humidity, vibration.

Even so, many wines do benefit from aging for a few years, and we all have those special bottles waiting for the perfect occasion. So how best to store them?

Whether you’re storing wine in a fancy cellar or your bedroom closet, the most important factors to consider are temperature, light, humidity and vibration.

Cooler is better: Warm temperatures accelerate aging and therefore spoilage. The ideal range is between 50 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit (compared to 40 degrees for the average kitchen refrigerator). If you don’t have a temperature-controlled cellar, you probably don’t want to keep your thermostat that low. Look for the coolest spot where temperatures won’t fluctuate dramatically throughout the year. Wine should not be stored above 75 degrees. That’s why your garage, crawl space and car trunk are not good places for wine storage.

Wine is also susceptible to “lightstrike,” a condition in which prolonged exposure to bright light dulls the wine’s flavor. Leave the sunbeams shining through your windows to your pets and plants. This is also a good reason to avoid wine displayed in store windows. Lightstrike may become more of a concern as clear glass bottles, which can be more easily recycled than those of colored glass, gain in popularity.

Humidity is important to keep corks from drying out and shrinking, which would allow oxygen through to spoil the wine. Conventional wisdom says 75% humidity is ideal. More than that risks mold on the labels. To be honest, humidity is not much of a concern for those of us keeping wine for a few years.

Vibration accelerates aging. No one likes to be jostled all the time. Neither does wine.

So heat, light and vibration are enemies of wine. Right away that should tell us those cubbies beside the cooktop or over the refrigerator are not suitable places for wine. Please find something else to stick in there.

Collectors should be serious about storage.

If you have the taste and the wallet for high-end Bordeaux, Burgundy, Napa cult cabernets, etc., then you should invest in serious storage to protect your investment. A properly insulated, temperature- and humidity-controlled cellar can be a converted room or closet, or it could be an ostentatious cave worthy of a magazine photo spread. Suit yourself — and your budget: Most oenogeeks would rather spend the money on more wine than on a fancy cellar.

Specialized wine refrigerators can maintain proper cellar temperatures. Some even have two zones to keep white wines slightly colder than reds (though still not as cold as your kitchen fridge). They range in capacity from those with space for hundreds of bottles down to under-the-counter models holding a few dozen.

If space is limited, consider third-party storage. Look for a company with a refrigerated warehouse, backup power and solid finances. Keep good records of which wines you have there, and remember you can’t just pop down to the cellar to pull a bottle for dinner. The drawback is the cost and inconvenience, and it seems like every few years there’s a scandal in which one of these companies goes bankrupt and customers can’t access their wines.

The rest of us shouldn’t sweat storage.

For those of us who are not collectors but want to keep wine on hand for a few months or years, look for a cool, dark space in your house where there isn’t much traffic or activity. Consider installing wine racks to store the bottles on their sides, which keeps the wine in contact with the cork and helps avoid drying it out, at least on that end. If you keep bottles in the cases you brought home from the store, turn them upside down. This doesn’t apply to screw-capped wines.

Wine is a living thing, but it isn’t immortal.

Even with imperfect storage, fine wines will improve with a few years of age. But like us, they won’t live forever. The biggest risk for ruining your wine is not your storage conditions, it’s your reluctance to pull the cork. Stop waiting for that perfect occasion that never comes, while your wine slowly turns to vinegar. By savoring the wine and the memories associated with it, you will make any occasion special.