A wine fridge takes the guesswork out of bottle storage, but it’s not a necessity. The home has plenty of safe places to keep wine, but it also has danger zones that can quickly lay waste to your bottles of red, white and sparkling.
A great bottle of wine is only as great as the environment it calls home. We tend to know the basics — no direct sunlight, somewhere cool and dry — but there’s a chance you’re making a few storage mistakes without even knowing it.
To help sort out what your reds, whites, and sparkling wines actually need to stay in peak condition, I spoke with two people who know their way around a cellar: Liz Martinez, general manager and sommelier at Centrolina in Washington, DC; and Beki Miller, advanced sommelier and beverage manager at Caramá by Wolfgang Puck in Las Vegas.
Here’s what they want every wine lover to know about storing bottles properly.
1. On top of the fridge
While you may have ample space to line or stack bottles on top of your fridge, it’s far from ideal.
“Refrigerators give off heat and vibrate constantly, both of which accelerate aging and degrade quality,” explains Miller. “You don’t need specialized equipment to store wine well. You just need the least bad option.”
“My go-to solution is simple: boxes of wine on the floor of an interior closet, with the bottles stored on their sides,” she says. “This keeps the cork from drying out and protects the wine from light and vibration. I also store wine in a box under the bed, which offers a dark, quiet and relatively stable environment without taking up valuable space.”
2. In fact, most of the kitchen is off limits
Sure, it may make sense to transfer your above-fridge bottles to cabinets, but the kitchen is a room that experiences frequent changes in temperature, light and activity.
“Try not to keep wine in the kitchen,” advises Martinez. “There are a lot of elements and appliances that can put out heat outside of the stove. In fact, placing wine near any appliance [other than in a wine fridge] is not a good idea.”
Miller echoes these sentiments, adding that “kitchen cabinets may seem like a good solution because they’re dark, but kitchens experience frequent temperature swings.”
“Ovens and dishwashers create heat spikes, and those fluctuations are especially damaging over time,” she says. “Garages are another common misstep. Daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations make them among the least stable environments for wine. These fluctuations are often worse for wine than being slightly too warm or too cool. Wine values consistency above all else.”
Read more: Sip or Skip? Everything to Know About the Shelf Life of Opened Wine
4. In the car
One of the biggest threats to wine quality is the trip from store to home.
“Care should start the moment the wine leaves the store,” stresses Miller. “Wine is especially vulnerable during transport, particularly in warm weather. Leaving bottles in a car trunk while running errands, even for an hour or two, can expose them to temperatures well above what wine can tolerate.”
On warm days, for example, a parked car can easily exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which effectively “cooks” the wine before it’s even opened.
“Whenever possible, wine should be the last stop on your errand list, and bottles should be brought inside promptly. In hotter climates, an insulated bag can help limit exposure on the drive home,” she suggests.
5. Somewhere for it to ‘age’
It is a myth that most wines taste better with age. Instead, most wines should be opened and enjoyed right away.
“Some wines are intended to be drunk when they are young and fresh. Not every wine is meant for aging,” says Martinez. “It is important to understand the difference. If you sit on a wine that is meant to be drunk right away, your wine will lose everything that is good about it.
“Wines like the more impressive Burgundies or Bordeaux, or even a Napa cabernet, will need some age, versus an everyday wine that you pick up at the grocery store,” she adds. “Understanding that distinction and doing a bit of homework will save you the heartache of losing out on a wine that could’ve been enjoyed at the correct time.”
This is important to keep in mind for any new purchases, as you’ll have less flexibility with bottles meant for long-term storage.
“A bottle you grab on Tuesday to open on Friday doesn’t need the same care as a case brought home from a winery or a meaningful bottle you’re saving for a future celebration,” says Miller. “Short-term storage is forgiving; longer-term storage requires a bit more intention.”
As a general guide, full-bodied reds like cabernet sauvignon and fortified wines such as port or Madeira tend to handle imperfect conditions better. More delicate wines like Champagne, sauvignon blanc and riesling are sensitive to heat and fluctuation and will show damage sooner.
6. The garage
The garage might seem like a possible wine storage area since it stays cool, but there are simply too many temperature swings. Even if you live in a temperate climate, the garage is not a good place to build a wine cellar or keep your rack. That said, the garage does make a fine home for a wine fridge, since it’s out of the way and might have some unused corners that could house the midsized appliance.
You don’t need a wine fridge, but it can certainly help
If collecting bottles has piqued your interest, especially while traveling to wine countries around the world, a wine fridge isn’t a necessity. That said, dedicated wine fridges can be had for a few hundred dollars and remove the guesswork from proper wine storage.
“There are plenty of places around the home to store wine that will help with protecting it,” says Martinez. “Cool, dark places like a closet or maybe under the stairs [work]. The basement is also a good option, as long as it is not a humid area.”
Aim for these temperatures
While consistent temperature and climate may be difficult to control in a typical household, most bottles have a “sweet spot” for temperature.
According to Miller, wine should be stored in darkness at between 50 and 59 degrees Fahrenheit, with minimal vibration and as little temperature fluctuation as possible.
“That doesn’t mean perfection is required,” she explains. However, “if a wine tastes flat, dull, or oddly ‘old,’ storage or transport is often the reason, not the producer or the price tag.”
“More specifically, you can go a bit cooler for white and sparkling,” adds Martinez, recommending sticking to around 45 degrees Fahrenheit for whites and “a touch cooler for sparkling.”
When serving wine, she recommends around 40 degrees for sparkling and white, and around 60 degrees Fahrenheit for red.
“Just under room temperature is great for red wine,” she says. “It really helps the wine character develop nicely in the glass if you pull it out of a wine fridge and let it naturally warm up a touch.”
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