Richard’s post and Rod’s reply above spur me into posting something else slightly OT but definitely related and something I’ve been thinking about posting (or starting new thread about) for some time now…how do you store your wine??
We live in a 70’s bungalow in Aberdeenshire in a rural town so certainly don’t have any out buildings or a cellar!
But, the house had two extentions prior to our purchase and the kitchen/dining room/den extension added the only upstairs room - a bedroom which we converted into home cinema den…under the stairs up to the den is a built in/under bookcase with storage cupboards underneath - seemed the most logical and out of the way location for my stash!
It’s on the North side of the house so fairly consistent temp. Have been concerned it can get too cold during winter (certainly no risk of freezing) but I guess the fairly constant temp as opposed to higher fluctuations that would be in other rooms in the house gives peace of mind…smells a bit foosty in there too lol so humid enough I reckon…
Have been tempted by “Danby” wine coolers from our local Costco (although i rarely drink white so that would be in the kitchen fridge anyway) and i guess you can just control the temp as opposed to chill…but they are expensive!
In your situation I would certainly be looking for the coolest and darkest place in the house. If looking to cellar longer term then maybe ask a friend who has a cellar or wine store (and can be trusted!).
I’d say the vintage ports, Talbot’s and the penfolds’s Bin707 are long term keepers, others probably longer than six months - been doing lots of bbq and beer over the summer lockdown so not much wine consumed tbh - hence the side profile as beautifully shown above !
I do. A lot of available wine benefits considerably from keeping for a few years.
The difficulty is buying more than your immediate needs in order to start the process!
I find that pretty much any wine benefits from a little time in storage. Relatively cheap reds never seem quite right to me if I open them within a few days of purchase so I always leave them in the rack, even if only for a couple of weeks.
I’m not suggesting that this is the same as cellaring a quality wine to age it, but perhaps it just needs time to settle down after it’s been transported.
Exactly. Most merchants seem to recommend letting a bottle settle for at least three weeks following getting it home. I daresay there are some wines where it makes little difference.
We have wine racks in shelves in our garage that is now used as a games room. I’ve been tasked to install a wine cellar type thing with a glass door beer fridge under the stairs. It’s quite small but I reckon I can Jimmy up something fairly good.
