Cellar Wine

What is the best way to keeping wine?

The juice of the grape is at its happiest in a kind of  hibernation, perhaps for years on end. The place where the bottles lie must be cool (about 12°c), dark and free from vibration. That is why a cellar is ideal. There must be reasonable ventilation which must not , however, develop into strong draught; and the cellar should neither be too dry nor too damp. A bucket of water will help to dampen a cellar that is excessively  dry. Conversely , a little sawdust on the floor will dry out a damp cellar. A disadvantage of excess humidity is that the labels will quickly deteriorate and nothing is more frustrating than drinking fine wines without knowing their name or their year. With most Bordeaux, these details are printed on the cork, but then the bottles must first be opened.

If you have no cellar , do not despair. There are a places is most houses where wine can be stored. The most important criterion is a constant temperature. Another solution to the storage problem is to use insulated wine bins, which have marketed for some years. If this is not done, the cork dries out and oxygen can reach the wine, causing rapid and harmful oxidation .