Part Three: Light – Proper Wine Storage is Key to Great Tasting Wine

While dark-colored bottles help shield wine from sunlight, ultraviolet light can penetrate even dark-colored glass. Storing wine in dark conditions is essential to keep wine from spoiling.

Ultraviolet light can cause oxidization of the tannins, causing  an unpleasant aroma, thus ruining the wine.

Whenever possible, put your cellar lights on a timer.  If you ever forget to turn off the lights in your wine cellar, the timer will do it for you; keeping your wine safe.

Also in cellars, utilize low-wattage surface mounted lighting to minimize additional heat in the room and avoid any cool loss that may occur with holes for pot lights. While pot lights may seem like a good decorative idea, they are never insulated well enough and are not recommended for wine cellars. It should also be noted that low-wattage, non-heat emitting lights are better for wine storage than fluorescent lighting (see below).

Note that sparkling wines are more sensitive to light and should be given extra care when storing these wines.

More from Wikipedia:

TIPS

• Keep in mind that fluorescent lighting emits a significant amount of UV light.
• Our cellar-building preference is to have no glass at all, either in the wine cellar or on cabinet doors. We love our various designer clients, but they can sometimes use glass to a point beyond practicality when it comes appropriate wine storage. Something to think about …

For more information and help building your cellar contact us – our experts will be happy to assist you.

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Thanks for reading Rosehill’s Proper Wine Storage series. In case you missed any entries, here they are for your enjoyment:

Part One: Temperature – Proper Wine Storage is Key to Great Tasting Wine

Part Two: Humidity – Proper Wine Storage is Key to Great Tasting Wine

Part Three: Light – Proper Wine Storage is Key to Great Tasting Wine

Part Four: Storage Angle – Proper Wine Storage is Key to Great Tasting Wine

Part Five: Vibration & Ventiliation – Proper Wine Storage is Key to Great Tasting Wine

Cheers!
Rosehill Wine Cellars