The ideal storage conditions for wine are a dark, damp, cool wine cellar. But as few of us have one of these, where’s the best place to store wine?
Bottles of wine prefer being kept in a place that’s constantly cool, between 10 to 15ºC is ideal, so a spare room with the radiator turned off is a good place.
When I lived in a house with no spare bedroom but an unheated north-facing room that contained the loo, I put my wine rack there. Even in the height of summer the temperature never got above 15ºC and in winter it could get pretty chilly, but it never froze.
Where ever your ‘cellar’ location use a wine rack or cardboard box to keep your bottles on their sides. Wine will then be in constant contact with the corks and this will stop them drying out and shrinking. A dried-out cork will let in air and bacteria which will contaminate the wine.
If you’ve bought wines sealed with screwcaps or plastic corks (the back label will tell you), store the bottles upright. These man-made bottle stops don’t need to be kept moist and so can be kept in areas not wide enough to take horizontally stored bottles on a wine rack.
PG Wine Reviews
19 Crimes Australian Red Wine 2014
£6.50 Asda
Take a punt on this blended red with no indication of grape varieties if you like a slightly sweet red. With flavours of cherry, coffee and liquorice this wine has enough going on to match hearty meals or just the TV.
Cono Sur Chilean Bicicleto Pinot Noir 2014
£6.97 Asda, £6.99 Co-op
A light cherry and blackberry tasting red.
Co-op Fairtrade Argentinean Torrontes Chardonnay 2014
£6.99 Co-op
A flavourful white that needs matching with a lightly spiced curry to bring out all the flavours to the full. Expect satsuma and floral flavours, along with apple, banana and melon.
Co-op Truly Irresistible Fairtrade Argentinean Malbec 2013
£6.99 Co-op
Creamy damson flavoured red.
Fortezza de Colli Italian Chianti Classico
£6.99 Lidl
Good pizza red that tastes of plum, blackcurrant and dark chocolate.
Plan de Dieu Cotes du Rhone Villages 2013
£9 Asda
Not sophisticated but it is oomphy – cherry, liquorice and creamy spiciness.
© Paula Goddard 2016 www.paulagoddard.com
