Summer is just around the corner and it gets anyone that has a wine collection, or is thinking of starting a wine collection, or heck, even just wants to be able to save a few bob and buy their wine by the carton, starts thinking about how to store the collection. Not all of us have a wine cellar, in fact what I refer to as my cellar is actually a spot under the stairs that has a three wine fridges.
Wine is constantly evolving inside the bottle, it doesn’t like heat, or excessive damp nor does it like vibrations or bright light. It evolves best when it’s left in a dark spot and there is a constant cool temperature. Henschke for example recommend their wines be cellared at 7-12C for whites and 12-18C for reds, I personally set mine at 8 for whites and 14 for reds. At those lower temps the wines develop more slowly and get time to develop that complexity.
However a steady temp of say 21C, is better for the wine than huge fluctuations of 7 to 28 and back again. For that reason don’t store wine above your cooktop or around your oven, even if you have the cut out there for it, under the bed is more suited than most spots in the kitchen.
If your storing your wine for drinking or immediate consumption, there are a range of fridges that are designed as conditioning fridges, that is they hold the wine ready for immediate consumption, but wont hepl the wine age. If you are looking at long term storage than a dedicated wine fridge is your best option.
But before you start putting bottles aside to age, check you actaully enjoy the flavours of aged wine.
This is may sound like a strange question to ask someone who is planning on starting a cellar, but most people like the idea of a cellar, but don’t know if they actually like the taste of aged wine, especially aged Riesling. If you are about to start investing in a cellar, then go out and buy some wines across different age. A few 10 -15 years old, a couple 3 -5 years old, and try them, see if you actually like the taste. Finding out this early can save you a lot of cash in the long run, because you may not need to spend a lot of cash on a large unit that will age a wine for 20+ years.
So here’s a few things to look for:
- Unlike a normal fridge, wine fridges run a little higher in temp (6 to 18 degrees) and aren’t frost free which leaves that all important humidity in there to protect corks. If you are looking for a place to cellar wines for the long term then there are a few more things to think about.
- Air-conditioners won’t do the same job as a wine fridge, no matter what anyone says. You will not be able to long term (10+ years) store wine in an air-conditioned environment. They simply don’t get cold enough, and they suck that humidity out of the air calling for some serious sacrifices and changes, like storing buckets of water in there to keep the humidity up. Plus if you are looking at storing several different styles of wines then you start to talk about storing at different temperatures, which leads to:
- In an ideal world we would all have enough cash and space to have three fridges: one for red, one for white and one for sparkling. If you have a small collection of both reds and whites, have only space for one fridge but not the cash for a multi-zone, then grab a single zone, turn it down to 12C and place the reds at the top and the whites at the bottom, it’s not ideal but, hey, it works for the mid-term cellaring. Otherwise a dual zone is a great investment to be able to cellar both your growing collection of reds and whites.
- Glass glazing on the front of the unit will make a huge difference to the its ability to keep the temperature steady. Look for double, or triple glazed doors. Light will prematurely age a bottle of wine, and UV light can penetrate even the darkest bottles, which will degrade the tannin structure found in reds. Ensure that it has some form of UV blocking on it to stop any of the wines inside being light struck. If you do have an air-conditioned cellar change your lights from fluoro to led or incandescent.
- Wine hates vibrations; railways, road noise and machinery, it disturbs the sediment that is being dropped out of the wine. It’s akin to shaking the bottle every day. Once the bottle is down it needs to be left there until you are ready to sell it or drink it. My experience has been that wire shelves seem to transmit more vibrations than the timber shelves. Which segues nicely to:
- Metal or timber shelving is the most common types of shelving out there. Metal tends to allow more vibrations, and is also a little colder at the contact points on the bottle rather than spreading the temp all along the shelf as it happens with the timber. Some wire shelves only contact the bottle at the neck and the bottom of the bottle, much like a wine rack does, the timber shelves (in wine fridges) cradle the whole bottle. What this means is that the wine will age slower at the small contact points relative to the entire bottle. It’s not much of a problem short term, but if you’re storing wine for 20+years it will make a huge difference. Also check your shelves, are they easy to pull out, do they have runners or better yet rollers? Because a full shelf of wine bottles weighs a lot, you want to ensure the shelf comes out easily. Some manufactures say their fridges will accept 36 bottles, but when you start to fill them in the real world you find that this is only 36 Riesling bottles, which are quite thin and long. Take a couple of bottles with you to check. Remember that there is nothing wrong with storing your store screw cap wines standing up, it just looks funny that’s all. By pulling out a shelf or two you can actually increase your storage in the fridge.
- Lastly, there are two common misconceptions about wine: It will get better with age and; I can always use it to cook with.
A bad wine doesn’t get better with time in the bottle, it will just be old bad wine. You can certainly ruin a good wine by storing it the wrong way, but you will never improve a poor quality wine even with perfect storage. A wine cellar isn’t a hospital for sick wines, start with quality, store it well and you will have a great aged wine with wonderful characters. Bear in mind that not all wines have the ability to age either, it all depends on the tannin structure, the acid, the fruit the list is endless. How do you know how long you can cellar it for? Generally there will be a comment on the labels, or check the internet for reviews.
Cooking with a wine that’s not great won’t make it magically change. The same off flavours, those same bitter tastes or that skunky aroma will still be there. The only thing you will do is ruin a good meal.
If you won’t drink it, then don’t cook with it.
