You Might Be Storing Your Wine Wrong

After birthdays, holidays and other gift-giving occasions, a few bottles of wine often sit around waiting for later. "Just tuck it away" and stick it in a cabinet, right? Unless you want to start a vinegar-making hobby, storing the wrong bottle upright is a surefire way to ruin it. Here is how to tell which bottles are meant for keeping and the best ways to store them, so you can drink to your heart's delight down the road.

Why store wine "correctly"?

Most people are not about to build a cellar thousands of bottles deep. That doesn't mean the things you invest in deserve less care. Wine is an investment at any price point: you put your money into something you only get to use once. Whether you buy it for tonight or put it away for later, storing it correctly keeps it from spoiling and keeps the purchase from going to waste.

What makes wine go bad?

Plenty can go wrong before a wine is bottled. Once it is sealed, its biggest enemy is the environment. Light, heat and oxygen are all working to spoil it. To store wine well, keep it away from direct sunlight, keep it somewhere cool and make sure oxygen stays out of the bottle.

How to store wine correctly

Lay corked bottles on their side

If the wine has a cork, store it sideways. Upright, the cork slowly dries out, lets oxygen into the bottle and spoils the wine. Friends of ours have lost bottles to vinegar without knowing this key fact. A Stelvin closure (aka a screw cap) is a different story: the wine doesn't need to touch the closure, so those bottles are safe to store upright.

Keep it cool, not cold

Keep wine away from heat, ideally in a cool (but not cold) place. If the spot is too warm, the wine develops a "cooked" aroma, turns flabby and loses its aromatic quality. The same goes for a bottle left in the hot trunk of a car on the way to dinner. An average-quality wine might be fine for a while, but it's not a good bet.

The refrigerator is for chilling, not storing. An extreme change in temperature can alter the flavor of the wine and the pressure in the bottle, which can break the seal around the cork and let air in. Like any other food in a smelly fridge, wine can also absorb funky "fridge" flavors over time.

The best temperature runs from 55°F for fine wines to 70°F for more everyday wines.

Keep it out of the light

Not all wine is meant to age. Light is one of the big three enemies, so look for dark-colored glass if you want a bottle to put away on a shelf. Clear or lightly tinted glass lets light through, and light starts to change the wine. That doesn't make the wine "cheap." It means the bottle is meant to be drunk now.

Not everyone has a basement or a dark closet to dedicate to wine. The back corner of a closet or a spot tucked inside a cabinet will do wonders for keeping a bottle safe.

The short version

• Look for a rack that holds bottles sideways.
• Choose a cool spot in your home, consistently under 70°F.
• Keep it away from direct sunlight.

Do that and you can keep wine for however long you like. Once you are ready to start a collection, stop by Eataly to sample some favorites.