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Storing Wine


Storing and Serving your Wine
Storing
Buying your wine is one thing, but storing and serving 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.
Most people buy wine to drink within a few weeks 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 therefore 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.  Some unsuitable places are outside brick houses or garages, which become very cold in the winter and very warm in the summer.  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.  The ideal cellar temperature is 7°-13° C, and should not drop below 0° C or above 20° C but if you are only keeping wine for a short time then up to 25° C, 77° F is maximum.
Serving
There are three very basic rules on serving wine; the temperature of the wine, the pouring of the wine and the glasses the wine is to be poured into, all of these can have a marked effect upon the overall bouquet and palate of the wine served.
Firstly, Temperature, It has always been said that room temperature is perfect for reds, but not anymore, now that central heating has come into play, room temperature is far too warm, and this can cause the wine to become almost cooked.  Your red should be served at between 15°-13° C 
Breathing is opening the wine and allowing more of the wine to have contact with oxygen which, in the short term improves almost all wines, so pulling the cork an hour before on a full bodied red and letting it breathe can be beneficial to its character.  As a quick measure you can decant the wine, which gives it maximum exposure.
For vintage ports or fine wines that have been laying down for a period of time it is important to leave standing upright for a day before opening to allow sediment to move to the bottom of the bottle.  These wines and ports should then be decanted or poured very carefully to ensure that the small amount of sediment at the bottom does not spoil the wine or port in your glass. 

Storing and Serving your Wine

A little about serving temperatures before you read on

 


Storing

Buying your wine is one thing, but storing and serving 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.


Most people buy wine to drink within a few weeks 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.


 

fine-wine-room-chester-hdtv-720-.jpg

As most of us don’t have cellars therefore 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.  Some unsuitable places are outside brick houses or garages, which become very cold in the winter and very warm in the summer.  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.  The ideal cellar temperature is 7°-13° C, and should not drop below 0° C or above 20° C but if you are only keeping wine for a short time then up to 25° C, 77° F is maximum.


 

Serving

There are three very basic rules on serving wine; the temperature of the wine, the pouring of the wine and the glasses the wine is to be poured into, all of these can have a marked effect upon the overall bouquet and palate of the wine served.

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Firstly, Temperature, It has always been said that room temperature is perfect for reds, but not anymore, now that central heating has come into play, room temperature is far too warm, and this can cause the wine to become almost cooked.  Your red should be served at between 13°-15° C 


 Breathing is opening the wine and allowing more of the wine to have contact with oxygen which, in the short term improves almost all wines, so pulling the cork an hour before on a full bodied red and letting it breathe can be beneficial to its character.  As a quick measure you can decant the wine, which gives it maximum exposure.

For vintage ports or fine wines that have been laying down for a period of time it is important to leave standing upright for a day before opening to allow sediment to move to the bottom of the bottle.  These wines and ports should then be decanted or poured very carefully to ensure that the small amount of sediment at the bottom does not spoil the wine or port in your glass. 


 




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