A lot of people think they need something like this to store their wine ^

Here’s the thing - you don’t need some insane, fancy, temperature-controlled cellar in your house in order to store your bottles of wine properly. That’s a common misconception.

Whenever people find out I’ve worked in the Wine Industry, I can usually tell they’re a megajerk if they talk about their very fancy wine cellahhhhh.

The same applies if the person tells me they only drink Napa Cab, yet I digress…

The good news is, you don’t need a very fancy wine cellar to store your wine.

After reading this blog post, you’ll know exactly what you need to do to keep your bottles safe, so the next time someone talks about their fancy wine cellahhh you can just ask them if they have any Grey Poupon and move on with your life. So without further ado, let’s chat about what to avoid when storing our precious bottles of vino.

AVOID LIGHT

When you decide to store your wine, it is very important you keep it away from light. UV rays cause wine to age really fast, and there’s a reason why most wines are kept in tinted bottles. What happens is light reacts with riboflavin, B2, which is present in each bottle of wine - because grapes, duh. This in turn produces sulfur compounds, which can make your wine smell like uncooked onions, cabbage, or even rotten eggs.

A great place to store wine is a dark one - think about your closet or a musty basement.

AVOID STRONG ODORS

I feel like this one is pretty self explanatory. Think about it. A lot of wines have cork capsules. And though cork is a great way to cap off your bottle of wine, cork is naturally porous and allows a teeny tiny bit of oxygen to come through and affect your wine.

Because of this, strong odors can easily affect your bottles of wine. So, the next time you’re thinking about burying your bottle of wine in a garlic field - you may want to think twice about it.

AVOID HEAT

Does cooked wine sound appealing to you? Me neither.

I remember when I was a young and inexperienced broker, sometimes I would leave my sample bottles in my car during some of LA’s notoriously bad heat waves. Sometimes, the corks would literally explode - oops - but most of the time the wines would just taste really flat.

If you’ve ever made a dish like Coq Au Vin or Beef Bourgignon, you know what I mean. The wine tastes different after it’s been cooked. So do yourself a favor, make sure you store your wines in a cool place.

AVOID VIBRATION

You may want to reconsider storing your wine above the washing machine at home. Vibration is one of the big killers in terms of aging wine properly.

Vibration can disturb sediment present in the bottle, but the kinetic energy of vibration also causes a decrease in tartaric and succinic acids, which dull the esters (or flavors) in the wine.

Basically, if you choose to age your wine near your dope ass sound system at home, the vibrations will speed up the aging of your wine. So it’s probably not the best bet.

Thinking of aging wine next to this? Yeah… that’s a hard no.

SO WHERE DO I STORE MY WINE?

Before you store your bottle of wine, it would probably be best for you to box that shit up. A box helps with extra protection from light and odors.

Here are some places to consider.

A cool, dark closet in an air conditioned room.
A dark garage in a place with a cooler climate. Garages are hit and miss, if you live in a place with extreme temperature shifts, a garage might not be for you. If you have a garage in somewhere with a relatively cool climate year round, you may be able to store your boxed up wine here.
Under the bed of an air conditioned room.
A dark, damp, basement.

Be sure to store that shit on its side.

Wine corks need to stay moist. The worst thing that can happen to a bottle of wine is for the cork to dry out. Not only does this make it a bitch to open, but a dry cork crumbles and lets oxygen into the bottle, which can lead to spoilage.

Temporary Wine Storage

If you’re planning on drinking your wine within a month from purchasing it, feel free to store it in the fridge for a little bit. This applies to both red, white, and skin-contact wines. You do run the risk of strong odors affecting your wine, but if your fridge is clean and odor-free, it shouldn’t be a bad place to store your bottles.

After you’ve opened your bottle of wine and had a glass or two, the same rules apply. A lot of people store opened red wine at room temperature, which is a huge no-no. The room temperature coupled with the oxidation that naturally happens from opened wine is bound to speed up the aging process for your bottle of red.

So keep that shit in the fridge.

PICK OF THE WEEK: Edetària “Via Edetana” Blanca Terra Alta $16.99 @ K&L

One of the super value gems I worked with back during my brokering days was this Spain-based producer called Edetária. Their wines were transparent, crystalline, and full of energy. I had never tasted a producer that made expressions of Grenache with that much precision.

Normally white Grenache can be plump, with white peach aromas, brioche and honeysuckle. It’s fun, fruity, and friendly - with oodles of alcohol. It can be a bit fat, even. But it’s not super complicated — at least to me, anyway. This is especially true if you’re hitting up Grenache from the Rhône or even the Los Olivos area in California. Terra Alta Grenache from Spain is an entirely different beast.

It’s sleek, timeless, elegant and no-frills. Terra Alta Grenache has the purity of glass and the energetic focus of a laser beam. If you like Sauvignon Blanc’s citrus fruit aromas, bright yet balanced acid, and are looking to try something different - the Edetária Edetana Grenache Blanc is the perfect wine for you. This producer is based out of one of the most prestigious appellations for Grenache in the world - Terra Alta. I don’t know what it is about the soil here, but the Grenache that comes out of this place will knock you on your ass.

There’s a marine-like quality to this wine, and it has the precision of some sort of finely-tuned machine. If you like clean and lean wines, you will absolutely fall in love with Edetária and the way they do Grenache. Picture limes by the sea and even some petrichor - the aroma of ozone and rain-kissed concrete. It’s sleek minimalism at its best. It’s bottled no-frills, pristine beauty.

HOW TO STORE YOUR WINE LIKE A BOSS