Now, some of you might already know some, if not all, of the tips below, so feel free to skip this post, but not before contributing your own tips if you so wish (as they are most welcome. I’m not a wine expert myself and so I’m open to learning new tips ).
WHAT I KNOW…
1) the bottles should be stored in a dark place, the kind of dark spaces ghosts and vampires would love!
2) the space you store the wine in should have a room temperature of between 40°F-55°F at a humidity of no higher than 70%.
3) keep them away from vibrations (i.e. the fridge, the washing machine). I don’t know exactly why but my guess is that any vibrations would unsettle the sediments in the wine thereby affecting the overall taste of it over time.
4) same thing goes for heat and sunlight. Keep them away from those. The sun likes to drink wine and will suck the flavour out of it, leaving you with a wine that’s a shadow of its former glory.
5) bottles like to sleep like babies so store them on their sides to keep their corks nice and wet. This stops air from being absorbed through the cork. (If the cork dries out, it shrinks and lets the air in, you see).
6) wines are like water, they sometimes absorb smells too. The last thing you want is garlic-flavoured Chianti! (though chocolate-flavoured Chianti doesn’t sound too bad! I could live with that! Wouldn’t take much to persuade me!)
7) Stored red wine will keep for 4 to10 years and white wine for 2 to 3 years.
Like I said, any tips you might have, feel free to contribute via a comment. Let’s share what we know.
Ciao.
(img by: cappellmeister)