Cellaring Wine

By Darren Davis

Fresh wine is great – a new release of a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc or an Eden Valley Riesling show’s true varietal characters without any of the secondary elements that age gives to a wine. This can be great with the right occasion, and the right wine, but there are many amazing wines out there that can benefit from a little time in the cellar.

To store a wine for a period of time requires a few balls falling in place. It should be as simple   as following these 4 basic steps.

Temperature – keep it constant. 18 degrees of constant temperature is better than a fluctuating range of between 10 – 20 degrees. You see, the ullage space of air between the cork and the top of the wine in a bottle can make or break your wine. With a fluctuation in temperature, that air space will expand and contract. If it expands, it may push wine out through the cork.  If it contracts, it will suck in air into the bottle, accelerating the oxidisation process. In other words, your valuable bottle will become vinegar quicker!  Keep the temperature constant – 15 degrees is perfect if possible.

Vibration – keep it to a bare minimum. If there is constant vibration, it will unsettle the wine to the extent of dropping compounds out of solution. Colours and tannins are two such chemical compounds that may be affected by vibration, resulting in a paler, thinner wine over time.
Ultra-violet light – it’s bad for wine. Keep your wines away from any direct light, particularly Champagne, and the more delicate styles. The UV rays will again weaken the chemical compounds of the wine and render it weaker and thinner as a result.

Humidity – you need it! You need to keep the outer end of the cork moist with a good amount of humidity – around 65%, and the inner end of the cork moist with wine by keeping the bottle on its side. This, of course, has no relevance to wines with screwcap closures as humidity does not play any role in the effectiveness of screwcaps, however, if you have too much humidity in your cellar, you may find that you have a collection of mouldy labels!