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How you store your wine may determine how well it drinks

How to Drink Better: In an ideal world we would all have an underground cellar, but a cool, dark space can work too

Wine is best stored in an underground cellar. Photograph: iStock

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John Wilson
Sun Sep 10 2023 - 05:00

Q. How should I store my wine?

A. In an ideal world, we would all have an underground cellar filled with neat rows of slowly maturing bottles of the finest wine. The reality is very different. Most of us live in small, centrally heated, well-insulated (hopefully) houses or flats. While these may be very warm and cosy, they are not ideal conditions to store wine.

At warmer temperatures a wine will mature more quickly and not always in a good way. Once it goes over 25 degrees for a prolonged period, your wine may taste cooked or burnt. The ideal temperature is 10-15 degrees. As important as temperature is consistency. Fluctuating temperatures may affect your wine and can also make the cork contract and expand and eventually start to weep. High humidity is better than somewhere very dry.

You should also try to keep your wine away from sunlight and strong lighting – ever wonder why most wine bottles are dark green or brown? Strong UV rays will cause your wine to age prematurely or oxidise and turn brown.

It is possible to buy wine storage units that will keep your wines cool and away from light. However, these are expensive. An air-conditioned unit with a capacity of 24 bottles will cost you more than €500.

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If the above all sounds impossible, don’t worry. The good news is that the vast majority of wine is ready for you to enjoy the day you buy it, so most of us don’t need to worry about creating perfect cellar conditions in a modern house or apartment.

If you do have a small collection of wines, try to keep it away from sources of heat and light. A very warm bright kitchen is not a great place, so all of those built-in wine racks in your designer kitchen cabinets are better used for something else. Find somewhere dark with a consistently cool temperature and your precious wine should be fine.

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