Wine Storage Myths To Dodge Now
No matter how good the wine is, its fate depends whether you take storage seriously or fall prey to these four storage myths you need to dump now.
Store all wine in the fridge
No way. The refrigerator is a reliable cold store for an assortment of groceries and dairy but the refrigerator is also where good wines goes to spoil. It’s at best a stop gap suitable strictly for drink now wines you intend to keep for a couple of weeks tops. Never store your top wines in a refrigerator. Firstly, the fridge is constantly opened in the course of the day, exposing the wine to rude temperature spikes. Further, the absence of humidity, dries out the wine’s cork and can potentially oxidise it. Worse, the wine might absorb the aromas from the stored food and drink. So the fridge is a no-go.
Keep it up, not problem
A serious yet commonplace mistake many wine drinkers make is proudly displaying the finest of their collection kept upright in the drawing room for them to dote on and guests to envy. This indulgence only ends badly because of the inevitable oxidation to follow. Storing wines standing up if they’re closed under cork, will over time cause the cork to dry out and contract, letting oxygen rush in and permanently spoil the wine. Storing the wine on its side allows the wine itself to keep the cork moist and keep out the oxygen.
Red wines do under the sun
Well, no wines do well under the sun. Vines certainly do for a certain vital period, letting its stemmed fruit ripen to near perfection that translates into fabulous wine in a sealed bottle. For the finished product, little to no sun and heat is preferrable. And even though most wine bottles are tinted green to protect from the sun, constant exposure will eventually spoil the wine. The spoilage happens due to the sun’s ultraviolet rays directly effecting the wine’s acids and generates sulphur and some rather unsavoury aromas that render the wine near undrinkable.
So please resist the temptation of showing off your collection to the stream of drawing room audiences. Rather store the wines in a cool, dark space and delight guests with your good taste in wines when you eventually open them.
Never Too Cold
Yeah, no, there is such a thing as too cold and we’re not talking, ‘frozen’ here. The serving temperature for wine is absolutely crucial. The delicate aromas and flavours of wine is what it’s all about and yes, if the wine is served warm, then it’ll be closed off and taste rather unpleasant. The same will happen if the wine is too cold and then follows the needless and tedious exercise of bringing the wine back to optimum temperature. You can avoid this with our full proof guide to storage temperature and time needed for reds, whites and roses:
Reds: Store in fridge for up to 2 hours to serve at 16 to 18 degrees C.
Whites: Store in fridge for up to 3 hours to serve at 8 to 12 degrees C.
Sparklings: Store in fridge for up to 4 hours to serve at 8 to 12 degrees C.
