Skip to content

How best to store wine | Spiral Cellars guest post

modern kitchen with underground wine cellar

Luxury wine cellar company, Spiral Cellars, have recently installed a beautiful White Spiral Cellar in our Colchester showroom. Their passion for fine wine is paramount and the importance of storing wine correctly is their primary concern. In this guest post, Spiral Cellars explain the basics of how to store wine, ensuring your wine is perfectly preserved and ready to enjoy.

We’ve all done it.  Been given a special bottle of wine, tucked it away somewhere ‘safe’ only to discover that by the time an occasion arises worthy enough to open it, the wine has been spoilt. All too often, this is because that ‘safe’ storage place is anything but.

Wine is the ultimate loner, liking nothing better than to be left alone and undisturbed somewhere cool and dark.  Hence keeping bottles on top of a constantly vibrating fridge or under the stairs where they are at risk as one rummages around trying to access misplaced golf clubs, is not a good idea. It’s estimated that failure to cellar wine in decent conditions contributes to the fact that 30-40% of UK wine is unable to reach its’ prime drinking window.

Spiral cellar kitchen

So, what are the 5 golden pillars of wine cellaring, that will not only ensure wine is able to mature properly but equally importantly, isn’t allowed to deteriorate?

 Temperature

Wine should be kept at a stable temperature of between  12-15’C although slight variations of temperature within this window is absolutely fine. If you store wine at higher temperatures, it will mature too quickly.  If kept at a cooler temperature it will mature too slowly.

Vibration free

Wine likes to be left alone as vibrations, no matter how slight, can mix the sediment into the wine increasing the likelihood of a chemical reaction occurring.

Underground Wine Cellar

 Humidity

Fluctuations in humidity can dry the cork out which results in air seeping into the bottle, thus spoiling the wine. To prevent this, wine should be kept at a good humidity of approx. 70%  to prevent the cork from drying out and the wine from oxidising.

Clean

Given corks are semi-porous, it stands to reason that bad odours can penetrate a cork and negatively impact the wine. Hence, wine should be cellared in a clean, odourless environment. Of course, bottles with screw-tops avoid this issue entirely.

Dark

Ultra-violet light can cause unwanted chemical changes in the wine, causing it to taint.  Whilst wine doesn’t have to be kept in total darkness, lighting should be kept at a low level.

Spiral wine cellar with glass cover and illuminated bottles

Spiral Cellars provide ideal cellaring conditions. A Spiral Cellar provides the perfect environmental conditions in which to store wine.  Its unique passive ventilation system provides an optimum temperature and humidity environment without the need for an expensive climate control system. The thermal properties of the concrete cellar also contribute to keeping wine cool, as does the positioning of the cellar within the home. The glass doors feature a UV filter to block harmful rays and the lights used within the cellar are specially approved for wine storage. Not only that, but the sturdy concrete structure of the cellar keeps wine vibration free.

To experience a Spiral Cellar for yourself, why not visit the Colchester Davonport showroom, where a White Spiral Cellar has recently been installed.

Back To Top