Wine Blog

What's in Your Wallet...er, Cellar

Posted by: Trudy and Rob

Thursday, March 27, 2008 5:27 PM

I lead a rich fantasy life. I might think about what we'd do if Ed McMahon came
knocking at the door with that big check or perhaps if Governor Rod, to distract himself
from his daily routine of not doing much (except perhaps worrying about Mr. Rezko and
Mr. Levine), showed up to personally tell me that Trudy and I have won the Illinois
lottery. This would be a really neat trick because we don't actually play the lottery except
maybe once every three years or so. Naturally, my first thought would turn to what I
might do to enhance our wine cellar. OK, maybe this wouldn't be the first thought but I
think it would be in the running for the top 10 list, or at least the top 20.

Trudy had suggested that we next talk about our cellar and it sounded pretty good to me,
so here goes. I suppose I should start by saying that we probably have way too much
wine for our own good (on the high side of 700 bottles) and yet I continue to buy more.
Is there a brilliant strategy to this or did it all just happen (I'm talking about the cellar, not
the universe)? It's been kind of an evolution over time. Back about 20 years ago, when I
bought my first house, I was very pleased that the lower level of the tri-level had a
smallish extra bedroom that seemed very suitable for an office/wine storage room (more
on storing wine in a bit). Aside from two wine racks that a friend had made for me (and
I still have them in the cellar and could probably use more), my wines were stored in
boxes, either the ones they came in or acquired from the very friendly local Piccadilly
wine chain. I'm sure either Sunsinger or Corkscrew could provide the same service with
their empty boxes but they were not around at the time. Over time, the collection grew.
Some time in the early 90's I bought this device called a computer. To practice my
spreadsheet skills, I thought to myself why not inventory the wines so I would actually
know what might be lying around in all of those boxes and what I paid for them. Cool
(both the computer and the wine room). There was only one slight problem. Or two. It
had become unruly. Even though I now knew what I had on hand, I had been known to
pour over those boxes for 20 minutes trying to find that darn bottle that I just knew I had
down there. Sometimes my organizational skills are lacking (ask Trudy). Nonetheless,
when you really want that bottle of Chateau Utopia to pair with the fabulous dinner that
you just made, ya gotta find it Dinner may have gone totally cold, but I would search for
that wine.

Fast forward to present times. We were fortunate enough to build a house and, of course,
it includes a wine cellar. Lest you think we're trying to keep up with the Gates', Buffet's,
or some such thing, I should explain that the cellar simply consists of a basement room
(shades of my old house) surrounded by the poured concrete foundation on three sides,
insulated with celotex (I think that's how it's spelled), and finished with car siding. We
bought a small Breezeair air conditioning unit for temperature and humidity control.
Add some pine shelving and viola, it's a cellar. On really bad work days I go to that
room first. Well, not really, but it's a thought.

So, what's in the cellar and what should one look for if one is trying to keep some bottles
around for future drinking pleasure? Our cellar is kind of organized, but I still
occasionally have trouble finding things. Trudy has her own shelves and bins (for about
30 bottles or so) and the other bins contain most of the wine that we share together. Not
that she doesn't share her stuff (she does) but this system helps keep one or the other of
us from accidentally consuming that "special wine" when the other half isn't around. It's
happened! We prefer reds to whites, so much so that I only have about a dozen or two
whites on hand. This definitely does not mean that we don't like whites...we do.
Sometimes a good white is just the ticket to pair with cheese or dinner but it seems that
we mostly drink reds. We have a good selection of various west coast reds from
California, Oregon and Washington state. We are also well represented with Italian and
French wines (although the dollar to euro thing is getting ever more painful) and a
smattering of Australian wine as well. The price points vary. There are inexpensive
wines, midrange wines, and some "trophy" wines. I should mention in all of this that we
don't buy wines to collect them for their own sake. We like to drink them.

So assuming that you like to drink wine (you're reading this, aren't you?), what might
you do to protect the wine you have on hand and what might be considered for a varied
wine collection? There are some enemies of wine and it serves one well to protect your
bottles from these guys. This might keep you from wondering down the line why those
great bottles that you bought just don't seemed to taste the same as when you bought
them.

Enemy number one is heat. Try not to expose bottles to temperatures over 75 degrees or
so for any appreciable length of time. Don't have wine shipped to you in the summer
when it may have sat around in an oven hot truck or some such thing. Wine can become
literally cooked in the bottle. If you see a bottle on the shelf with the cork pushed out
beneath it's capsule or with red wine drips down the label, avoid it. It's very probably
been mishandled along the way, quite probably due to excessive heat. It's not too great to
have wine shipped in freezing temperatures either. Hopefully your local wine merchant
will have products on the shelf that have been properly shipped. For your own cellar, be
it a basement, underneath the stairs, or a store bought wine fridge (they come in many
sizes and prices...I've even seen them at Sam's Club) 55 degrees or so is a good
temperature to shoot for. Granted, not many of us have such temperature controlled
spaces. My old place had a basement that was in the low 60's on the winter and hit 70 or
so in the summer. This is generally OK for all but the stuff that you want to keep and
improve over many years. At least as important is the rate of temperature change. In
this case slow is good, the slower the better. Wine ages faster at higher temperatures and
if the wine is not built for aging (as most aren't) a lower, non-fluctuating temperature will
protect it the best.

While on the subject of temperature (and I can't remember if I've said this before), try to
serve your wine at a temperature that shows off their flavors the best. It's been said that
most people serve their whites too cold and their red too warm. A too cold white does
not reveal much flavor (this can be a blessing for some poorly made whites) and a too
warm red can seem way alcoholic and out of balance, not pleasing at all. Most whites
show well somewhat cooled, say in the mid to upper forty degree range, and reds
generally show well in the mid to upper 60 range depending on the grape.

Light, vibration, and weird odors are also not a good idea when storing wine. A lot of
light can destroy wine over time (don't leave your wine rack in the sun!) and too much
vibration and shifting can harm it as well. Odors are another problem. They can
permeate the corks and end up making your wine taste really, shall we say, unique. Don't
store the wine next to the sweet smelling fabric softener unless you really like that smell
because eventually your wine will end up tasting like Downy or whatever product you
use. Corks are porous which helps a wine slowly breathe (mix with oxygen) and develop,
but the little devils can also let bad odors in. Speaking of corks, if you're going to store
the wine for any length of time, keep the bottles on their sides so the corks don't dry out
over time. A medium high humidity level also helps keep them from drying out. Don't
store the bottles in bright sunlight or for that matter any bright light. This can also strip
the wine of its characteristics over time. Along the same lines, if a wine has been in a
retailer's store front basking in the sun, let it continue to enjoy the store front. You don't
want it in your home.

The point of all this is not to make you feel as if you've got to have a mini Fort Knox to
protect your wine. Most of the wine at my old place did just fine down in the lower
bedroom. You just don't want to abuse it too much. Generally, the better you treat your
wine, the better it will treat you. And enjoyment of wine is the main reason we're
chatting away here. We'll chat more later. Let us know if you've got any questions.

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