If you don’t have a wine cellar or simply don’t have room for one, and the wine connoisseur in you is craving an environment to store your wines and still ensure fabulous temptations to the palate in years to come. Well, it is possible to have your wine… and drink it too…
You can store your wines in your kitchen, but be sure to follow some important guidelines in the design of your ‘Kitchen’s Wine Cellar’:
Store wines at a cool, even temperature
“The magic temperature to store wines is between 12-16°c.” With this in mind, the experts do add that anything between 5-18°c is acceptable as long as the temperature remains constant.
Of course the gradual temperature fluctuation that occurs between the summer and winter months won”™t be detrimental. It is sudden temperature changes, regularly that will take a toll. This is why it would be foolish to store your wines against a wall that gets the afternoon sun, or above your oven.
Store wines on their sides with the label up.
This keeps the corks wet. If the cork did dry out, it would shrink and allow air into your wine, ruining it. You will also keep the label safe.
A handy tip is to hang a tag on each bottle’s neck with information such as the wine’s name and when and where you purchased it. This will allow you to identify the bottle without disturbing it too much.
Avoid movement or vibration
Constant vibration will disturb the sediment in your wine bottles. This will have a detrimental affect on the taste of your wine in the future.
Vibrations could come from an air conditioning unit or fridge, the slamming of the fridge or freezer doors, cupboards and drawers, the fan exhaust on an oven range hood, and even people bumping into the wine ‘rack’ if it is positioned in an awkward spot.
And please forget the old saying that “wines should be ”˜turned”™ every so often”. Such a myth was surely heralded by someone with a penchant for vinegar! As one wine expert said, “Once a wine is laid down, that”™s where it should stay until you are ready to open it or sell it.”
Avoid exposure to UV
While light prematurely ages your wine, UV light will permanently damage it.
As fluorescent lights give off UV light, choose incandescent lights around your stored wine, and opt for the darkest point of your kitchen. A dark cupboard might even be the best option.
Strong odours can affect your wines
Strong odours can filter their way through wine corks and contaminate the liquid. Don’t store your wine in a cupboard with strong smelling products like bleach, insect sprays, or room deoderisers.
Naturally a kitchen is hard-pressed to duplicate the advantages of the wine cellar, but if you follow these simple rules you can at least enjoy fair storage of your wines. If you would like wine storage included in your kitchen design, or you have the room for a ‘wine cellar’ have a chat with the Nouvelle Team; their creativity and experience in building kitchens… and drinking lots of wine 🙂 will certainly help you get the kitchen and wine storage you desire.
