A BLONDE VINTAGE

Good morning friends! I’ve been getting the question of “how to store wine bottles” a lot lately from friends and followers. Though, honestly, it was not until last week that I was inspired to write a dedicated post on this topic! You see, the other day I was chatting with a girlfriend of mine (who is getting married later this year), and she was telling me how her and her fiancè are beginning to stock up on wine for their wedding. I offhandedly told her the best way to store wine bottles, and surprisingly, she had never thought of storing them any differently than stacking the boxes in their garage. Intrigued, I asked a few other friends of mine and found the same result! So, if you love wine and have more than a handful of bottles in your home.. consider reading further. Today, I’ve rounded up all of my favorite tips and tricks on how to store wine bottles for both the novice and expert! Cheers!

HOW TO STORE WINE BOTTLES

Wine is delicate, and there is definitely a proper and improper way to store it. While it’s in the bottle, plenty of variables can change within your wines (aka go wrong) and change your wine into vinegar. Yuck. No thanks. That’s why if you want the most out of your wine, but are not planning on drinking it right away, do yourself a favor and store it the proper way! Here are the dos and don’ts of storing wine at home!

KEEPIN’ IT CHILL

Heat is the number one enemy of wine. Shoot for keeping your wine at the ideal temperature range which is between 45° F and 65° F. Many say that 55° F is close to the perfect temperature but don’t overly obsess about it, just make sure your wines don’t experience a roller coaster of temperatures. Keep it consistent! Now, if you’re like me and like to keep a few whites on hand in the fridge, know that keeping wines there is fine for a few months, but it’s a horrible idea for the longer term. The lack of moisture could eventually dry out the corks, plus you do not want to “freeze” your wine which will inevitably change the taste profile of the wine as well.

LIGHTS OFF

Light, especially sunlight, can create a problem for long-term storage of your wines. Because the sun’s UV rays can prematurely age wine, it is one of the reasons why winemakers choose to use colored glass bottles. It’s basically “sunglasses” for wine. Therefore, try to keep your wine in a cool, dry and dark place! An ideal spot would be under-the-stair storage, a walk-in pantry, or a cool, not-too-damp basement. Look for a location not directly in line with light pouring from a window, or in your kitchen or laundry room where temperatures tend to fluctuate frequently.

STEADY ON IT’S SIDE

Traditionally, wine is stored on it’s side in order to keep the liquid up against the cork which will keep the cork from drying out. However, if the bottles you own have alternative closures like screw caps or plastic corks, this is not as necessary. I will say this though, if you have a small collection of wine, the most space-efficient way of storing your bottles would be horizontal racking, and it definitely won’t hurt your wine, no matter what the closure.  Another nice feature of racking your wines horizontally is you can almost guarantee that they will not be overly vibrated or shaken, which is another factor key thing to note in ideal wine storage.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE RACKS?

I love finding cute and functional wine racks. To me, they don’t have to be fancy, they just need to look good, be sturdy and hold enough wine. Make sure you note the bottle width of the wine you’re looking to rack, some bottles have wider bases and you’ll have a more difficult time finding racks to accommodate those sizes. A good rule of thumb is to look for a rack which can hold a Champagne bottle, that way you’ll know 95% of your wine bottles will fit (the exception being magnums)! Below are some of my favorite wine rack solutions, including this super cute on the counter rack!

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE WINE COOLERS?

Our first wine cooler held about 54 bottles of wine, it was a small investment for us at the time, but it’s still chugging along some six years later and we love it! Recently, when building our house, I did a lot of research on wine coolers which would fit either under the counter for our bar area or as a larger stand up fridge. I liked both options and it was difficult to choose, however based on our needs we ended up selecting two under the counter models. Below I’m sharing both the under the counter models we liked and the larger stand up models.

Hope this answered some of your wine storage questions! If you love wine, and are looking for some great spots around Oregon, consider checking out my Oregon Wine Country Travel Guide!

XO!

M

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