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
Sainsbury’s Winemakers’ Selection Chilean Chardonnay 2013
£4.50 Sainsbury’s
Trying a bit hard with the oakiness but otherwise pleasant apple and pineapple flavours.
Tesco Finest Italian Grechetto 2013
£6.99 Tesco
Tastes rather like a Chenin Blanc with light lemon, apple and pear flavours.
Indomita Chilean Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2013
£7.49 Co-op
Pear, apple and bubblegum.
Desconocido Spanish Monastrell 2013
£7.99 Co-op
New to the Co-op wine range. Tastes like a macaroon with a cherry on the top.
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Viñedos Barrihuelo Rioja 2009
£8 Sainsbury’s
A light-bodied wine that tastes of chocolate, dark bread, cherry and sloe.
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© Paula Goddard 2014 www.paulagoddard.com
