5 Wine Cellar Secrets   

Wine Racks from Rosehill

Wine racks (Photo by Rosehill Wine Cellars)

A custom wine cellar is ideal for storing wine. The temperature is controlled by a wine cooling unit from a manufacturer specializing in creating the right environment for wine. There is insulation from floor to ceiling, to ensure a steady temperature that doesn’t fluctuate and harm the wine. These may be things you already know about wine cellars, but the following are lesser known facts about wine cellars and the wines they store.

1-Label-Up

All wine bottles that will be stored for more than a couple of months should be stored horizontally on wine racks. As most people know, this ensures that the cork stays wet, protecting the wine from a shrinking cork that allows excess oxygen into the bottle, which spoils the wine. What many don’t know is that there are several good reasons to be careful about storing your wine with the label up. It helps in the following ways:

  • The label is better protected from damage. Whether or not you are storing your wine as an investment, a damaged label can understandably impact the eventual enjoyment of the wine.
  • It’s helpful for the sediment to form on the side opposite of the label, so that you can more clearly see whether decanting is needed when it’s served, due to an excess amount of sediment.
  • You won’t need to disturb the wine bottle in order to see what type of wine it is, and eliminating movement and vibration is one of the basics of proper wine storage.

2-Causes of UV Damage

A bottle of wine is prematurely aged by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light, which penetrates even the darkest glass used for bottled wine. Sunlight isn’t the only source for harmful UV rays. The lights in a wine cellar can also cause UV damage. Fluorescent lights, for example, are sources of significant amounts of UV lighting. LED lights don’t release UV rays or heat; they are ideal for wine cellars. If you have a glass door or window on your wine cellar or wine room, keep in mind that UV rays are transmitted through the glass.

3-Aging

A low-quality wine isn’t improved simply because it has aged in a proper wine cellar. There are certain types of wine that improve with age, but the process of aging doesn’t upgrade a poor-quality wine into a fine vintage.

4-Corked Wine

corked wine, perishable flavour glass wine cork metal corkscrewCorks and wine are forever pared, like horses and saddles, and needles and thread, they are symbiotic partners.  Years ago, wine was much more reliant on good quality corks. Over a long period of time, it was determined that approximately 8% of all wine bottles with corks became tainted or “corked”. In response to the clear evidence of such a problem, synthetic corks – plastic corks were developed and sold by the millions. The cork industry relies in large degree on the wine industry.

The cork industry has over many decades researched ways to prevent the naturally occurring chemical called tri-chloro-anisole (TCA) from combining with the chlorine bleach that was used to sanitize the corks, which was the cause of the problem. They developed a new process, which has significantly reduced the number of corked bottles of wine.

5-Benefits of Cleanliness

A wine cellar should be completely free of foodstuffs and anything with a penetrating odor. If there are strong smells, they can penetrate the cork and spoil your wine. If there is food, such as cheese, in the wine cellar, mice will be drawn to the area and can begin chewing on corks and labels. Also, if you store anything with its own yeast in the wine cellar, it’s likely to ferment; so don’t.

If you’re interested in making a custom wine cellar space in your home or business, contact Rosehill Wine Cellars. We are experts who know all the secrets of proper wine storage, and we will work with you to create the perfect space for your wine collection.