If too hot, wine loses its fruit flavor and gets a cooked taste. It basically goes off. Wine, especially red, improves with age but you have to maintain its temperature and humidity without fluctuations. While reds are generally served at room temperature and whites at about 12 degrees Celsius, the storage temperature should be around 13 degrees. Red wine is also light sensitive and needs to be stored in the dark and not under lights.
Storing the wine on its side is also important because any air in the bottle dries out the cork and lets oxygen in which changes the taste. On its side, the cork is wet and air tight.
Whether you are buying wine for your long term collection or consuming it for dinner that night, Eugene Kwan, one of the proprietors of Domaine de Chaberton, wants your investment to get home in the same condition as when it left his winery. “Wine needs to be kept at a certain temperature or it will cook,” he explains. Eugene cringes when he sees wine tasters putting their cases of wine into car trunks on a hot day before driving home. “Here at the vineyard when people buy wine, we will keep it cool for them in the shop or bistro until they are ready to go home. When they leave, we advise them to keep the wine in the cabin of their car which is cooler than the trunk especially if the car is air conditioned.”
Domaine de Chaberton, one of British Columbia’s largest estate wineries, has been tempting wine lovers since 1981 when they established their vineyard in south Langley. While the Langley vineyard specializes in cool climate vitis Vinifera grapes for their white wines, the grapes for their award winning red wines come from the Black Sage Bench near Oliver, B.C. The Bacchus Bistro overlooks the Langley vineyard and pairs the wines with gourmet meals.
Since it is expensive to buy wine that is already aged, Mike Raffan, a partner and operator of Township 7 Vineyards and Winery, recommends buying less expensive, quality, young wine and aging it yourself under proper conditions. Township 7 is another Langley vineyard that opened in 2001 and then expanded to the Naramata area of the Okanagan in 2003. They are known for their small lots of high quality grapes and have introduced exciting sparkling wines to B.C.
Keeping a wine collection in optimal conditions for years can range from efficient, inexpensive options to upscale cellars and tasting rooms. “An easy way to store your wine is in old fashioned ceramic drain tile arranged in the basement of a house. Most Lower Mainland basements are cool enough to accommodate wine cellars,” says Eugene.
Another method is a wine cabinet which is like a sophisticated mini fridge. While these are mostly used for whites, some have dual zones for reds as well.
At the other end of the storage spectrum is the wine cellar. Mike Raffan has seen a trend toward a European look in style and two-part rooms — one for storage with cool temperatures and the other for tasting. “Wine owners want comfortable areas that show off their collection,” confirms Mike. The hardware that goes in the cellar is important too, such as temperature control machines and humidifiers.
Todd Senft, owner of reVISION Custom Home Renovations Inc., builds custom wine cellars and themed tasting rooms for his clients, “These are rooms rather then just spaces for storage and hold 1,500 to 2,000 bottles of wine. It is a very personal process and we hold extensive consultations with the collector to determine the style of the room, whether it will be used for entertainment, and the need for special display areas to feature certain bottles.”Todd has constructed rooms with Italian cobblestone themes, iron gates and tasting tables. The idea is to create a space where you can escape from daily life and be transported to the country where the wines in the collection originate.
Wine cellars today are not just designed to protect your wine collection. They have become a special part of homes for the comfortable enjoyment of wine. Bacchus would be proud.
Wine Cellars - An Investment in Cool Article by Kelly Wharton
