We’ve all heard about wine that has been aged for decades, sometimes even more than a hundred years. It’s one of those things that makes wine what it is, the idea that with time it gets better. There’s something about knowing that the wine coming out of your wine dispenser system took years and yours to get to you, aged to perfection. But wine is temperamental and if you don’t treat it properly it will turn. This article will look at what you need to know to get the most out of your wine for years to come.
Before we get into the specifics of storing after building a custom wine cellar it’s important that you think about the wine itself. Not every wine is made to be stored for years and years and every wine has a point where it peaks and begins to decline. Before you commit to aging wine you need to do research into it, what its peak age is. For some wines it’s only a year or two before it starts to go bad while others peak after decades, though few wines last more than 20 years.
You’ve probably seen images of wine cellars on movies and TV, the imagery of honeycombed wood packed with wine is very iconic. There’s a very specific reason for every detail in this image and to understand it you should start by considering what a cellar is. It’s a room built underground, it’s dark, cool and out of the way. All of these things are necessary to properly aging wine. For example, wine racks for cellars are built so wine is sideways because that keeps the cork moist, which in turn keeps the air out. Think of wine as a cave dwelling animal that thrives in the cool of night and shrivels in the bright light of day and you’ll have a better idea about how you should treat it.
Make sure that the environment the wine storage cabinet is placed in is as consistent as possible. When people hear that wine needs to be somewhere dark and relatively cool they often think that’s all there is to it and place it in a cabinet in their kitchen. The logic makes sense but it misses very important details. Even if the temperature is low on average if it keeps going up and down then it will harm the wine. This is why a climate controlled wine storage cabinet is so valuable, because it generates a climate that is steady and trustworthy.
Properly aging wine takes time but if you appreciate the highest caliber of wine then you need to at least consider it. One thing to add is that you have to be mindful about each and every bottle you have through the process. That’s why many people keep a record of their bottles, where they are in the aging process and when they will reach their peak flavor. Because nothing is worse than finding out that the wine you’ve been aging for a decade has gone downhill since you forgot about it. So be careful and methodical about your wine and it will pay off in the end.