Wine Storage Basics

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all new homes came with an optional wine cellar blueprint? Unfortunately, this is rarely the case; so a little ingenuity must be used. A wine cellar needn’t be an actual “cellar”, dark and dank, with a single light bulb hovering over your treasure trove of bottles. But your wine storage area should meet some basic criteria and for good reason. Wine reacts to its environment. Light, temperature, vibration, humidity, and even position of the bottle, all play a part in the outcome of the taste of the wine when opened. As a rule of thumb, most wine should be stored in a well-ventilated environment that is clean, dark, cool, and in a relatively calm area of moderate humidity.