Some believe that women, like fine wine, only get better with age. That, of course, depends on the woman, but it’s true that some fine red wines and a few whites can benefit from a little down-time in the cellar.
Why store wine?
Wine is aged to intensify its flavours and aromas. When a wine is left to mature in the dark mustiness of a cellar, its characteristics change to become more complex and sophisticated. For some, it makes more sense to buy young wine by the case and enjoy it after a year or two in storage.
For others, buying a few cases of young wine for aging is an investment. Those cases will really pay off in a few years when the wines emerge mature, sophisticated and worth a lot more money. Having wines in storage is also convenient, much more so that having to nip out to the wine store every time you need a bottle on the table.
Conditions for storage
If wine is to be aged well, it has to be shielded from the damaging effects of heat, low humidity, light and oxygen. The best option is a cool, damp cellar with as little light coming into the room as possible. The bottle should be laid on its side so that the cork stays wet so that doesn’t shrink and allow air to seep in.
Easy drinker or collector?
Depending on how you like to drink your wine, your storage methods will be different. Easy drinkers are those who don’t need their wines aged more than a year. Any cool, dark space in the house will do for storage – under the sink, in the cupboard by the staircase, in the basement – these are all fine as long as the light doesn’t get to the bottles.
Wine collector takes storage a lot more seriously. An aged wine will only be exceptional if it is cellared properly. Temperature and humidity levels need to be controlled in the storage
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