I find that in day-to-day life one runs across few opportunities to use an awesome word like “dastardly.” It’s a great word. So when I decided to write about the five things which can harm your wine, I simply had to describe the villain as one should. There were some strong other contenders. For example, I like heinous, nefarious has a nice ring, villainous, barbarous, even diabolical, but dastardly is my favorite.
When I bring up the subject of the enemies of wine, I am talking about five conditions. These dastardly knaves are temperature, humidity, light, vibration, and odor. Each of these conditions can play a part in ruining or merely affecting your stored wines. They also affect grapes in the wine-making process, however, for today let’s just focus on bottles.
The first thing to take into account is temperature, especially high temperatures. Leaving your wine in a hot car or out in the sun on a picnic table during a summer day can quickly cook your wine. The wine may consequently taste flat, the nuances and balance thrown off, or the alcohol in the wine may be exaggerated to the taste. A dead giveaway that your wine has been overheated is a bulging, protruding or leaking cork. High heat will make the liquid expand thus pushing the cork out. Once the wine cools down and contracts a vacuum is created which pulls air into the bottle. This added gas can lead to oxidation which is a chemical reaction between the wine and the air. A red wine may turn brownish and there will be a sour, even vinegar taste. It is, in a word, unpleasant. This can happen as quickly as in an afternoon in the hot trunk of a car or more slowly by storing your bottles at too high a temperature. For the later, even if you don’t have vinegar on your hands, your wine may have experienced rapid aging, taking the flavors past their peak and straight into decline. On the opposite end of the scale, less common but still a problem is storing your wine at too low a temperature which can dry out corks, causing them to contract and once again we have air making its way into the bottle and oxidation results. Ideally, keep your bottles between between 45-65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Next enemy is humidity. Low humidity can cause corks to dry out and shrink, allowing air to enter the bottle and spoil the wine through oxidation. There’s definitely a pattern here, yes? Whereas high humidity will lead to mold and mildew which ruins the aesthetics of the label. This can ruin resale value, or simply not be what you would like to serve for your guests. Mold and mildew also bring with them bad odors and mustiness, not to mention more and more people are developing sensities to mold spores.
Our third villain is light. This one may come as a surprise, but it’s true. Extended exposure to light, especially ultraviolet rays, can damage your wine’s structure. The wine will become cloudy and develop flavors that are flat and off. This is one of the reasons that red wine bottles are dark brown or green, to help protect the wine over what is usually a much longer aging/storage time than a rosé or a white wine (other than an oaked chardonnay which can be aged for a few years and typically is bottled in brown glass). Wine is best stored in a dark, dry place. Think closets, cellars, that sort of locale.
Next up is vibration… yep, vibration. Constant or consistent vibration can artificially speed up a wine’s aging process. This means that your wine will pass its peak more quickly. Vibration can lead to the development of sediment in the wine. This is unattractive to the appearance and an unpleasant sensation on the palate. Vibration can occur from storing your wine near speakers, a refrigerator, washer machine, etc..
Lastly, we have odors. Strong odors can definitely affect the taste (and smell) of your wine. In this case it could mean gasoline, paint or paint thinners, so don’t store your wine in your garage or workshop. Likewise strong spices, cigars or cigarette smoke aren’t a great situation to expose your wine to. If you frequently light a fire or use a wood stove, you should store your wine elsewhere.
