Wine lovers know that smell plays a huge role in your ability and experience to taste. When that happens, wine is sure to spoil.īasements don’t smell great. When a cork dries and becomes brittle, air will leak into the bottle and the wine will begin to oxidize. On the flip side, humidity levels that are too low can cause corks to dry out and shrink. If your basement is humid, the moisture in the air can ruin the label of a great bottle-even one that is kept at the ideal temperature. Moisture is one of the top enemies of proper wine aging, as too much will lead to mold growth. Beyond temperature, basements are also prone to dramatic, unregulated fluctuations in humidity. Replacing basement insulation is, of course, possible-but it’s an expensive, time-consuming process that most likely still won’t produce a suitable environment for wine storage and aging. There is little to buffer from the effects of seasonal shifts in weather. Similarly, many basements have very poor insulation. Even a 5-10 degree shift in ambient temperature can totally destroy the conditions for properly aging wine. Not only are many basements not air-conditioned they are susceptible to the constantly changing temperature of the outside world. A constant, regulated ambient temperature is absolutely key to wine storage, as temperature is a main factor that plays into good wines going spoiled. Unfortunately, basements are not always the ideal place to store wine, for several reasons. Their cavernous appeal and location off the main route of the home makes them an admittedly romantic spot to build a full-fledged wine cellar. It’s cool, dark, and often left undisturbed. Can You Store Wine in a Basement?įor many, a basement feels like a natural place to create a wine storage cellar. Properly storing wine over the course of years (or even decades) can vastly improve its character across the board, whether speaking of flavor or financial value. After all, if your investment goes bad, well… it’s not much of an investment. For this to be feasible, the wine must be aged in virtually perfect conditions. Investors buy, store, and then resell their wine. Similar to fine art, wine investing is based on a tangible asset which is expected to increase in value over time. Increasingly, aged wine is seen as an ideal way to diversify one’s investment portfolio. These tannins respond to proper aging in a way that creates pleasant changes in certain wines.Īged wine is an asset. Tannins are responsible for the dry components of a wine’s mouthfeel. Tannins are key in how a wine develops with age, and are generally found in the stems, seeds, and skins of grapes. In particular, we can point to one group of phenolic compounds: Tannins. Wine tastes better with age because of a chemical reaction among sugars, acids, and substances which are known as ‘phenolic compounds.’ This chemical reaction can change the flavor, color, and mouthfeel of wine, especially in wines with high phenol levels like Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Nebbiolo. But how? To answer that, we’ve got to put on our science hats. These sensory components of wine become more complex, nuanced, and intense with proper aging. Proper storage improves flavor and aroma. By improperly storing wines, you skip the ‘aging,’ and move directly into the ‘spoiling.’ (If you’ve ever left a bottle in your car on a hot summer day, you’ve likely experienced firsthand how quickly it can go rancid!) All wines will go bad eventually, but improper storage will significantly speed up that process. Its relatively low ABV is not enough to keep wine palatable forever, unlike whiskey, rum, or other spirits. Wine is a rare substance in that it can actually improve in both flavor and value over time-but only if stored correctly. But with the advent of modern wine cellars and storage solutions, storing and aging wine at home has become a relatively straightforward endeavor-provided you know the basics. Today, tech-forward wine storage cellars are used to perfectly preserve fine wines all around the world, in both home and commercial settings.įor many, proper wine storage can feel like an intimidating subject, suitable for only the most expert-level sommeliers. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since the Romans buried their wine in subterranean cemeteries. Suffice to say, proper wine storage is an artform that humans have been perfecting for a long, long time. A bit later, ancient Romans used catacombs to store their wine. But that hasn’t always been the case-7,000 years ago, Neolithic peoples in Iran stored wine in pottery jugs, buried under dirt floors. Wine cellars and storage units are often high-tech, sophisticated machines.
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