If you haven’t tasted bad wine, you haven’t lived to appreciate the
good stuff. Like gulping spoiled milk — especially right out of the jug —
you know turned wine when you experience it. Wine that has been badly stored
(or “cooked” in industry parlance), tastes flat and musty, not grapey. It’s
not performing the way the winemaker intended, so it behooves us to pay homage
to his/her efforts and try to maintain its freshness. Not to mention preserve
the investment in the product. Maybe you received a few bottles over the holidays
that you’d like to save for a while … for that special occasion? Maybe a friend
boastfully spent beaucoup bucks for a gift and you’re worried about holding
it until you find the right time to drink it? No worries, since there are ways
to save that bottle from destruction, without spending extra cash on a fancy
wine fridge.Just to clear something up — 95-98 percent of all wine is meant
to be consumed within the first year after bottling. Not all wine should age,
especially that fun $8 Australian shiraz with the pretty label. If you have
four or five bottles like this sitting on the kitchen counter, don’t worry about
storage unless the rack is near a heater or a window with bright sun — two
elements which ruin wine quickly. But if you’re unintentionally morphing into
a “collector” with over 50 bottles, you need to start thinking about stabilizing
them until you can get to drinking them, whether it’s two or 20 years later.
There are five basic conditions that affect wine: temperature, light, humidity, activity and bottle angle. Rapid temperature fluctuations — not the indoor 10-degree transition between summer and winter, but from a refrigerator to a hot car for an extended period — are the most damaging to the flavor. The optimum temperature lies in the 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit range, but the majority of my collection stays at 74 degrees year round and I haven’t been disappointed. But I keep my babies away from light as well. Clear bottles fall prey to ultraviolet rays, which can prematurely age a wine and rob it of its character.
Humidity affects only wines with corks, which can shrivel in the bottle’s neck and allow oxygen to enter. To avoid this wine-killing element, keep humidity in the 70-percent range if possible. Most air conditioners achieve this level for you, but standard refrigerators are not optimal since the humidity is normally too high, the temperature too low and the motor activity too shaky. Wine prefers calmness, like most humans, so storing bottles next to the stereo speakers might be something to avoid.
Bottle angle — storing wine horizontally — keeps the cork moist so it doesn’t dry up. To avoid this issue completely, buy wines sealed with a screwtop, a superior capping system for most everyday wines.
If you’re keeping a bottle around for more than a few weeks, keep your wine in a dark closet where the A/C cools it down. When you’re ready to crack the seal, it will reward your careful efforts.
Recommended Wines
Stoneleigh 2003 Riesling Marlborough (NZ) Like an enormous fruit basket smushed into one flavor, with lime, tangerine and apple co-habitating. Sweet but so balanced it’s practically perfect. Sweetness = 4. $16. 
Valiano 2002 Chianti Classico Poggio Teo (ITALY) Sweet, ripe raspberries awash your tongue with cherry, leather and earth following. Approachable, smooth and elegant. Worth twice the price. Sw = 2. $20.
This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2005.
