Some of you probably found themselves in a situation of opening a wine bottle and finding out that it’s spoiled. Just like food can be spoiled if stored on the wrong temperature, wine can also change its properties or even spoil when it is stored on inappropriate conditions.
It’s clear that at home we cannot recreate the conditions of a winery, but it’s important to find the most appropriate location to ensure that stored bottles are at a constant temperature between 12 and 16 degrees and never above 20 degrees. Temperature above 23 degrees puts wines at risk of spoiling. This doesn’t necessarily have to mean that if you leave your wine on this temperature for a week it’s going to spoil, but prolonged exposure — like a week-long heatwave or full day in the car — can.
What can you do?
As we all know, the best way to store your wine is in a cellar or in a special refrigerator where temperature and humidity are controlled. Even with the air conditioning, most homes have an average temperature above 23 degrees. If you don’t have a wine fridge, you can simply keep your red bottles of wine in a regular fridge. The temperature in the regular fridge won’t harm your bottles and you can remove them before serving to warm them to an ideal temperature for serving wine.
