It’s no secret that when a wine is stored incorrectly, it can dramatically change the aromas and flavours within the wine. Whether it is extreme heat or regular change in temperature, keeping your wine incorrectly can ruin your wine experience.

With this article, we’re here to guide you into storing your wine in a way to ensure that every bottle delivers what you expect. Along with that, we’re here to help you store your open wine in a way to keep the freshness for longer and get the best from every drop in the bottle.

Storing Closed Wines

Regulate the temperature: When it comes to storing closed wine for long periods of time, there are a few important things to do and not to do to ensure the quality of the wine is upheld.

Firstly, the temperature of the wine should always be kept consistent. Any irregular temperatures will result in the wine being damaged. The ideal temperature is around 10 - 15°C.

Keep the wine on its side: Along with the temperature, wines that are cork-sealed should be kept stored on its side to keep the cork wet. A dried-out cork will result in the cork cracking and oxygen seeping into the wine. If the wine is sealed with a screw-cap, or if the wine will be consumed within a year or two, storing the bottle upright poses no problems.

Stay away from light: Light is another problem that can seriously damage your wine – whether it is artificial or natural light. When a wine is exposed to light for extended periods of time, the wine becomes dull and flavourless, which is definitely not what you want!

Just keep it in the fridge: If you’re not a huge wine collector, and you simply have a few bottles you want to keep and enjoy within the coming year, simply laying the wine flat in your refrigerator will allow the wine all the necessary conditions to prevent any damage.

Storing Open Wines

The biggest enemy of wine is extended oxygen contact. The moment a bottle of wine is opened, it is already slowly starting to depreciate. If you are trying to keep an opened bottle of wine for a few days, there are a few things you can do to prevent the oxygen contact with the wine that will allow you to keep the wine open for longer.

Keep your wine in the fridge: It’s been proven that colder temperatures slow down the process of oxidation – which means your wine stays fresher for slightly longer in the refrigerator.

The cork isn’t enough: If you’ve poured out a glass or two from the bottle, simply pushing the cork back into the bottle isn’t enough. It simply traps the oxygen inside the bottle. The trick is to remove the oxygen from the bottle.

Wine Savers: There are a few items on the market that help you remove the oxygen from the bottle and seal it after you’ve already opened it. Most of these items come in the form of an inexpensive wine pump that sucks out the oxygen and seals it off. These wines often last up to seven days before you truly experience a dullness in the wine.

No Saver? No Problem: If you don’t have a wine-saver at hand, the best thing to do is to pour the wine into smaller containers to minimize the oxygen-to-wine ratio. The fuller you can pour the containers; the less oxygen is present and the longer the wine will keep.

Whatever your wine-storing goals are, we hope that you’re able to store your wine in ideal conditions and have every bottle taste as perfectly as you want it to!