Do you really need a wine cellar?
Do you really need a wine cellar?
Home wine cellars and wine refrigerators are all the rage in the suburbs, while city dwellers sometimes go as far as to rent special refrigerated storage space for their precious bottles. But is all this really worth the expense and trouble? If you have a cool, dark place, such as a basement, closet or even under your bed, it may not be. To determine the answer, first ask yourself these questions:
What is the temperature like in my home?
If your storage area tends to hover around 70 degrees Fahrenheit or so, most wines will be fine, although they’ll age a bit quicker than they would at the ideal 55 degrees. But if it tends to get up to more than 72 degrees, the heat can begin to destroy it. Leave a bottle in a warm room for several months and you’ll get something closer to vinegar than to vino.
Also keep an eye out for drastic temperature changes. Fluctuating from warm to cold can wreak havoc on your wine by causing the corks to expand and contract with each temperature shift, letting in air that oxidizes the wine.
What is the humidity like?
If you’re planning to save a bottle for over six months and you live in a desert, then you’ll probably want to find storage with higher humidity so that the corks don’t dry out and let air into the bottles. The ideal humidity for wine storage is 70 percent.
How soon do I plan to drink my wine?
This is the most important question to ask, because if you’re planning to drink it in just a few months, then it’s in very little peril as long as you keep the bottles someplace relatively cool and out of the sun. If you want to hang on to it for more than half a year, your storage area becomes more important. If you’re planning to age it for two years or more, you’ll want to keep storage conditions as close to ideal as possible. - J.L.
