For some of folks, storing wine isn’t necessary. If you are like many Australians, wine you purchase from the bottle shop is opened within a day or two.
But if you’ve received your Small Victories wine club delivery, or ordered some wine from us and some other great Australian wineries and have a few bottles to put away, we’re sharing our top tips to keep your wine in tip top condition.
TIPS FOR STORING WINE AT HOME – WHERE?
It might be handy to store wine for easy accessibility come wine-o-clock – like in a wine rack on top of the kitchen fridge – but unfortunately that’s not the best place for the wine… nor is your shed. Wine survives best when it is kept safe from light, vibration or fluctuations in temperature.
At our house, we have a 12-bottle wine fridge for the ‘good stuff’ and a wine rack for our everyday drinking bottles. The wine rack is in the corner of our study which is the central most part of our house and isn’t used particularly often so is mostly dark. I’ve found it to be the best place in our house for the wine (apart from in my glass, of course 😆).
If you have a cellar, or a wine fridge, problemo already solved and your wine will be very happy.
But not everyone has the capacity to have dedicated wine rack or wine fridge at home. So then we recommend you choose a place that is central in your home so that the temperature will be most stable, like the bottom of the spare room wardrobe, or the linen press or under the stairs.
Have a ponder on the best spot in your house for your wine – maybe it’s also the best hide and seek hiding spot…
And if you’ve got room in your kitchen fridge, it might be best to keep a bottle of white or rosé chilled for that impromptu small victory celebration!
HOW TO STORE YOUR WINE
The rise in popularity of screwcaps means that storing wine upright is now ok, hooray! This can take up less space and certainly be easier to manage if you’re popping a box into the wardrobe.
Wines with corks still need to be stored laying down.
To help keep the bottles insulated from temperature changes, storing wines in their cardboard boxes can be handy. Or if your local fruit and veg shop has some foam produce boxes their happy to give away this can be the perfect wine storage box to slide under the spare bed!
THE AGE OLD QUESTION FOR WINE – WHEN SHOULD I OPEN THIS?
Our wines are ready to drink right now. You don’t need a cellar or a long timeline to enjoy Small Victories Wine Co. You don’t need to worry about whether you’re opening it too early, or too late. Go ahead, open that bottle tonight!
But if you’ve also got some wines that should be cellared, and you enjoy aged wines, then it’s best to go by the recommendations of each winery. Most wineries should provide a cellaring year range on their tasting notes or website to give you an idea of how long to put a wine down. It’s best to follow their advice because they will be checking the progress of their wines over time and want them to drink at their best. It’s also important to remember that not all wines get better with age!
WINE IS MADE TO BE ENJOYED!
Hope you’ve found something useful in our tips for storing wine. But the most important takeaway message is our wines are made to be enjoyed!
We think wine shouldn’t be too serious. And life’s too short to drink bad wine. So Small Victories Wine Co is committed to making wines that are simply delicious.
As Bec says, “The wines are seriously good but are made with an element of fun. You don’t need to sit around talking about them, instead enjoy the moment as you savour them with friends and loved ones.”
So cheers to that!
‘til next time,
Jess
