Home Wine Storage Made Easy

There’s nothing better with a great meal than the perfect bottle of wine. Many of our customers are wine aficionados, and love pairing just the right bottle with their favorite foods. You probably know that red wines taste best when served at room temperature, and white and sparkling wines should be served at about 45°F. But what many wine lovers don’t know is that you don’t need a traditional wine cellar to store the vintages of your choice. There’s no need for a cold, dark basement or a high-tech temperature and humidity-controlled room.

Temperature, light, minimizing vibration, and keeping the cork moist are the four most important considerations involving storing wine at home.
eHow.com offers the following basic tips:

• Keep white and sparkling wines away from bright light. All wines, in fact, do best in an environment that offers no more than minimal artificial light.
• Store wines between 50°F and 60°F, if possible, to help the flavor develop well, and to avoid the problem of wine that ages too quickly.
• Store bottles on their side so that corks remain moist and swollen. This prevents air from getting into the wine. Today, some good wines are being sold with twist caps. “Though screw-cap wines may seem a shock to wine traditionalists,” according to
  wisegeek.com, “there really are studies suggesting that these wines may hold up over time better and tend to store and age at a more predictable rate than do wines with artificial or natural cork toppings.” Wines with screw caps do not need to be stored on their side.
• Keep humidity between 60 – 70%, which is also good for the cork.
• Red wines do better than white wines in environments in slightly warmer temperatures, so if you store wine in a rack, put the red bottles in the top rows. White wines go in the middle, and sparkling wines should be stored in the lowest, coolest portion.
• Store wines – especially opened bottles – away from foods that have strong odors, such as cheeses and fruits
• Avoid any motion that will unsettle the wine (even from machinery vibrations).

Once you start collecting wine, you might experiment with bottles that will require years, or even decades of aging before they are ready to drink. Bottles like this require special attention, and it’s best to learn more about them by reading wine publications, attending classes and tastings, asking professional sommeliers, or sharing your interest with friends who are wine enthusiasts.

Atherton Appliance & Kitchens and BSC Culinary both offer a variety of Full Size and Under Counter Wine Storage Units for customers who are interested in convenient, home-based wine storage. Some examples include:

Gaggenau’s attractive 18/24-inch wine storage unit with sliding bottle trays and a glass door, offers two temperature-controlled zones for ideal storage conditions for both white and red wine, or long-term storage and drinking temperature. Interior lighting is optional.

Thermador’s sleek Wine Columns from the Freedom Collection come in either 18 or 24 inch widths, and feature dual control wine preservation, multiple handle options, Full Access® wine racks and a specially-engineered Freedom® Hinge that can open to 115º, allowing the columns to be fully flush mounted without sacrificing accessibility.If you’re looking for an under counter option, Aga’s Wine Cellar accommodates up to 54 bottles on perfectly canted glide-out racks that cradle your wines (including magnums and champagne bottles) to keep corks moist. An efficient compressor and low velocity fan create an optimum storage environment that’s vibration free, and an interior lighting system displays your wines with elegance.These are just four of the many premium wine storage units and brands available through our showrooms. Please stop by and see us so we can help you enjoy an exciting, life-long appreciation of home-stored fine wines.