I write a lot about wine, and I want to talk a little bit about storing wine. A lot of wine gets better by laying in your cellar (or my wardrobe) for some years. Some champagnes can be stored 30-40 years. But it's different if it's white, red or sparkling wine.
By storing wine there is different things to look at. If you drink red wine, you may know about tannines. Tannines is known for the dry taste in the mouth while drinking. If there is a lot of tannines, it's best to store it for some years. In white wine it's a little bit different, it depends on the grape. The grape also says a lot about how many years you can store it in red wine too.
Source: HERE
Wine Folly is a page that specialises and really know wine.
It's a lot of info to find on their pages, and since I struggle a lot myself to know how many years I have to store my wines, these two pictures helped me a lot. I should print them, and store them too in my cellar/wardrobe.
Source: HERE
Temperature is key to how fast the wine is developing. The warmer the wine is stored, as faster the grape is developing.
The temperature depends on the grape, alcohol and tannin.
But the rule of tumb is around 11-14˚c (52-57˚F).
How to know the temperature? I bought myself a Wine Bottle Collar Thermometer. Search for it on ebay (or amazon?). It doesn't cost much, and you can also use it when you want to drink your wine at the perfect temperature.
The best wine to store over time
have the grapes is Barolo and Bourdeaux (red wine), Champagne (sparkling wine) and Riesling (white wine). Those wines is concentrated and fresh.
I recommend to download Celler Tracker. It have almost every info on how long a wine can be stored. But it's like wikipedia: everyone can change how longe the wine can be stored.
Since I'm talking about temperature.
The right temperature to enjoy your wine is at:
- 5-8˚C for Champagne and sparkling wine
- 8-10˚C for light whine wine
- 10-12˚C for full-bodied white wine
- 12-15˚C for light red wine
- 15-18˚C for full-bodied red wine
But some people like their wine warmer or colder too. This depends on what you like.
And remember: store the wine while laying down. Because the cork can dry out, and it would be hard to remove it from the bottle when you are opening it.
Almost of this info did I find and learned at www.Winefolly.com