Storing, Serving and Preserving Wine

Buying your wine is one thing, but storing, serving and preserving it can be just as important, and has a significant effect on the wine in your glass when you come to drink it as well as its value or worth.

Storing Wine

Most people buy wine to drink within a few days (or hours) of purchasing it, and in this instance with the everyday wines, how you store your wine is not going to change its character too much. If you are thinking of keeping any amount of wine for longer than a month or two then you need to think about how you are storing it.

As most of us don't have cellars, it's difficult to find the perfect place to store wine, but it's not impossible. A few good places are, under the stairs, in a cupboard or a spare room. The rules of storage are cool and dark, consistent temperature and no vibration. Most people keep their wine in the kitchen, where the temperature can change quite dramatically; this is not good for wine and can quickly spoil its condition.

Serving Wine

As a rule, white and sparkling wines are best served well-chilled (40 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit), with sparkling wines such as Gimonnet-Gonet Brut Tradition and lighter whites at the lower range of the scale and fuller-bodied, richer whites, such as Chardonnay, at the upper range. An hour in the refrigerator, a half-hour in the freezer, or fifteen minutes in a ice bucket with water and ice, does the trick. Avoid over-chilling, especially with high-quality whites like Fog Crest Laguna Chardonnay, because it will blunt the complexity of the wine's aromas and flavors. Conversely, cheap whites are best-served well-chilled.

Red wines should be served at cool room temperature (55 to 65 F.), with lighter, fruitier reds (e.g., Beaujolais and Pinot Noir), at the lower range and fuller-bodied varieties ( e.g., Killer Cabernet, 30 Degrees Zinfandel  and Syrah, at the upper range.

Certain conditions may dictate exceptions to these rules. On a hot day, for example, it's a good idea to slightly chill a full-bodied red like Lion's Ridge Cabernet to mitigate its alcoholic "heat," which is more evident when the ambient temperature is high. Conversely, it may be advisable to serve an especially rich white wine at close to room temperature to ensure its complex aromas and flavors can be fully appreciated.

Preserving Wine

Exposure to air causes wine to age. If you don't finish a bottle of wine, cork it up tightly to preserve what's left. The less wine left in the bottle, the more air, and the faster the wine will oxidize and lose its freshness.

Unfinished white wines, tightly corked and refrigerated, should maintain their character for up to four days, while reds will begin to degrade after 48 hours. (You can extend this slightly by refrigerating reds too, but then you have to warm them to room temperature before serving.)

There are various ways to extend the life of a wine after it's opened, most of which involve purging the bottle of oxygen. Two inexpensive devices are the Vacuum Wine Preserver , which pumps air from the bottle and seals it with a rubber gasket and Private Preserve, a canister of nitrogen you spray into the bottle to displace the oxygen. Both will add a few days to the wine's life.

If you want to know more about storing, serving, or preserving wine please contact your favorite WineMasters store and we can find a solution that's right for you.