With the nation spending so much time at home, sales of wine are soaring. Many people are building up a nice selection of different wines to choose from, but have been left wondering what’s the best way to store their wine to get optimum flavour and a longer-lasting tipple.
Thankfully, wine experts are on-hand to tell give us the low down.
Whether you’re looking to buy wines to save for a special occasion or are just keen to make your favourite bottles last that bit longer, this is what to look out for while browsing the wine aisle. The general rule of thumb is that anything that has some good tannin structure and a decent level of acidity can age well within the bottle as, over time, the tannins will soften, and the fruit becomes more mellow. Anything around the 10e mark should easily be able to age for a year. Stick to red, whites and sparkling wines like Champagne.
Where in the house is the best place to keep my wine bottles?
The most important thing for wine is to think of them as sleeping until you want to open them. They like to be somewhere that is a stable, kept in a cool temperature, away from the light, vibrations, movement and temperature fluctuations.
Storage is often in short supply in most people’s houses so it is important to be practical. Garages are a great place to store wines, if not, under the stairs as long as you don’t thunder up and down them. However, if the wine doesn’t tend to hang around for too long, then a small wine rack placed in the coolest part of your home is all that is really required.
What wines should I store in the fridge and out of it? Is it true that reds don’t belong in the fridge?
Wine shouldn’t be stored in the fridge per se – instead, the fridge should be utilised for chilling prior to drinking. Fizz should always be served fairly well chilled, over time as it warms up in the glass, the aromas of the sparkling wine will change and open up in a similar way to whites.
Where people commonly go wrong is the serving temperature of white and red wines. White wines shouldn’t be served straight out of the fridge. If they are too cold it can close down the aroma or nose of the wine. Whereas reds are often served a bit too warm. They can benefit from being popped into the fridge just before serving – an easy way to enhance their vibrancy and drinkability.
Top tip: Remember the 20/20 rule – take white wines out 20 minutes before serving and pop red wines in the fridge 20 minutes before serving.
What wines should I store upright, and which ones are okay to be laid down flat on their side?
The general rule is that anything under a natural cork needs to be stored on its side to stop the cork drying out – the contact of the wine with the cork keeps it moist. Screw caps and sparkling wines can be stored standing up.
Once I’ve opened a bottle, how long will it retain its intended aromas and flavours? What can I do to keep them as long as possible?
Once a wine has been opened and you have some left over the best thing to do for both red and white wines is to pop them in the fridge as this will keep them fresher for longer. Some wines you will find improve with having been opened whilst others tend to lose fruit freshness.
It’s often a matter of trial and error, as well as personal preference, but generally wines that are lighter and with higher acidity tend to stay fresh for longer. Wines such as Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling for example, can easily last a good few days after opening and can even make a week.
Rounder, fuller wines would want to be drunk within a couple of days. Reds are trickier as drinkability after opening tends to be extremely varied, the acidity in the wine will play a key role so pop in the fridge and try to enjoy the rest of it within two to three days.
My wine has been open for a couple of days, how do you know when a wine has gone bad?
Wines don’t go bad so much as they fade and don’t taste as good as they did on opening. The liquid will only really go bad if kept open for quite a long time; after a good couple of weeks the wine will slowly turn into vinegar and it will taste as such, too.
How long does sparkling last once it’s opened and what’s the best way to store it once the cork has been popped?
The higher the atmospheric pressure in the wine, the longer the bubbles can last for – this means that Champagne and other traditional method sparkling wines (Cava) will stay fizzier for longer than Prosecco and tank method sparklers.
Champagne can last probably two days whilst I would drink Prosecco the following night. Store the bottle standing up and use a sparkling wine closure, not a teaspoon as that old trick doesn’t work.
If you’ve opened a wine and it’s not quite to your taste, what else can you do with it?
In the event that you’ve popped open a bottle that’s not for you, there are a couple of routes you can go down before pouring it down the sink.
You can use both red and white wines to add depth and flavour to a variety of dishes including soups, stews and even sauces. Alternatively, you can make spritzers or even a jug or two of some crowd-pleasing sangria – white or red. If it’s a bottle that has already been opened, just be sure to taste it to make sure it hasn’t oxidised and got that vinegary twang before you use.