Town Appliance Official Blog

After a long day, most of us enjoy to sit back and enjoy an occasional glass of wine. This is a common habit of many Americans, so more and more of us become serious wine lovers, and get to really know wines. By the time we do understand wine quality, we will also have the awareness of the fact that wines need to be stored, as when stored improperly, wine can suffer from oxidation and lose it’s bouquet and body. We’d like to help you get to know wine storage and give you a few tips.

Storage Temperature

For the real wine lovers, it’s not just about purchasing the cheapest bottle and putting it in the refrigerator. Storage temperature affects the taste and smell of your wine, and you want to really understand the correct wine temperature if you want to keep those fruity aromas when you pour it into the glass. Take a look at the temperatures various wines should be stored at:

Sweet wines:

• White 42ºF
• Rose 50ºF
• Red 54ºF
• Champagne 46ºF
• Port 60ºF

Optimal serving temperatures: Whites above 55ºF and reds 68ºF.

Humidity

Besides temperature, humidity level is another huge factor to be considered. When we talk about long-term storage of wines, correct humidity is essential for the wine cork. In case of humidity being too low, the wine cork may dry out. This will compromise the seal, and it can come to premature aging of your wine. Even the intact seal can have the cork crumble and create different wine experience, when the bottle is opened. On the other hand, too high humidity levels, mold and mildew may affect the quality of your wine since the cork can become vulnerable. In general, most age-worthy wines are bottled with a cork, long-term wine storage should be kept at 70% humidity for optimum conditions.

Dark Surrounding

Wines desire a slightly different environment than we do. Our homes may be more warm and have direct sunlight for most of the day in order for us to enjoy, but on the other hand, sunlight can have a serious impact on your wines. Any source of light will compromise the wine flavor and make it age prematurely. UV rays are what impacts wine the most. What they do to the wine is breaking down the molecules and chemicals that secure wine to age delicately. And it’s not enough to just have you wine in dark bottles to protect it from UV rays. And, as logical, any light produces a certain amount of heat which creates temperature fluctuations in your storage. Therefore, so far, we should store wines in cool, dark and optimally humid conditions.

Cool, Calm, Collected

There are various statements from wine experts on how does the vibration affect wines. Finally, the greatest advise would be that vibrations should be minimized when it comes to your wine storage. While vibrations disturb the wine’s sediment, chemical reactions inside the bottle may be much quicker if the vibrations agitate the wine. What also affects the aging process is the energy introduced to your wine bottle by vibrations. This means that storing your wines near the vibration source may ruin your wine’s flavor and body. And even if we think our home is peaceful enough, even an appliance can cause enough vibrations for wine to be ruined.

There’s an Appliance for Everything

If you feel like it’s too much to take care of so many conditions, experts and professionals have introduced us to wine coolers that are the perfect storage to your wines. Wine coolers keep your wines cool to a warmer temperatures than a regular refrigerator. These appliances tend to keep the optimum temperatures for all wines, reds, whites, champagnes and others. They also provide the optimum humidity level, as well as enough dark environment to keep them away from additional heating. And since only 1% of wines on the market require an actual cellar, wine coolers are the perfect way to keep your wines always in high-quality conditions, so when poured, they will bring the best out of you. Feel free to check our wide variety of high-end wine coolers and ensure your wine quality for the holiday season at Town Appliance.