How to Store Wine

Properly stored premium wines will maintain quality and flavor longer. Air and temperature variations will kill a bottle of wine before you ever open it. Oxidated wine will have a brownish color to it. Cloudiness indicates spoilage. Here are some tips that will help you prevent your wines from going bad.

1. Keep the cork moist. Bottles should be stored at an angle, with the neck pointing down, or completely upside down. Corks will shrink when allowed to dry out. Once they do, air will get inside and ruin your good wine.
2. Keep wine stored at a constant, cool temperature. Storing premium wines in the kitchen, dining room or living room isn't a good idea. The temperature variations in a normal house go from hot to cold on a daily basis. If wine is stored where it will receive hours of sunlight during the day (which also can hurt wine), in the kitchen where appliances heat the air, or anywhere under a heating and air duct, it will go through a number of temperature fluctuations during the day. Wine needs to be stored at a constant temperature, out of the light. A dark closet may be the optimal choice for your home. Another option is a wine refrigerator.
3. To store wine after it has been opened, replace the cork, and stand upright in the refrigerator, to prevent leaks. A squirt or two of a wine preserver will blanket the wine with CO2, and protect it from oxygen. Vacuum pumps, which will remove oxygen from the bottle after opening, also work well.
   
4. Do not transport wine in the trunk of your car, or allow to sit in your car.
   When visiting wineries, or shopping for wine, store wine in an ice chest to keep it cool and out of the light.