A Beginner’s Guide to Basement Wine Cellars
Humans have been storing wine underground for millennia, so we’ve learned a thing or two. Follow these tips to keep your subterranean cellar up to par. [...] Read More... The post A Beginner’s Guide to Basement Wine Cellars appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.
Wine cellars and storage units are often high-tech, sophisticated machines. But that hasn’t always been the case. 7,000 years ago, Neolithic peoples in Iran stored wine in pottery jugs, buried under dirt floors. A bit later, ancient Romans used catacombs to store their wine. Suffice to say, proper wine storage is an artform that humans have been perfecting for a long, long time.
Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since the Romans buried their wine in subterranean cemeteries. Today, tech-forward wine storage cellars are used to perfectly preserve fine wines all around the world, in both home and commercial settings.
For many, proper wine storage can feel like an intimidating subject, suitable for only the most expert-level sommeliers. But with the advent of modern wine cellars and storage solutions, storing and aging wine at home has become a relatively straightforward endeavor—provided you know the basics.
The Importance of Storing Wine Correctly
Wine is a rare substance in that it can actually improve in both flavor and value over time—but only if stored correctly. Here’s why:
Wine is perishable. Its relatively low abv is not enough to keep wine palatable forever, unlike whiskey, rum or other spirits. All wines will go bad eventually, but improper storage will significantly speed up that process. By improperly storing wines, you skip the “aging,” and move directly into the “spoiling.” (If you’ve ever left a bottle in your car on a hot summer day, you’ve likely experienced firsthand how quickly it can go rancid!)
Proper storage improves flavor and aroma. These sensory components of wine become more complex, nuanced and intense with proper aging. But how? To answer that, we’ve got to put on our science hats. Wine tastes better with age because of a chemical reaction among sugars, acids and substances which are known as “phenolic compounds.” This chemical reaction can change the flavor, color, and mouthfeel of wine, especially in wines with high phenol levels like Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Nebbiolo.
In particular, we can point to one group of phenolic compounds: Tannins. Tannins are key in how a wine develops with age, and are generally found in the stems, seeds and skins of grapes. Tannins are responsible for the dry components of a wine’s mouthfeel. These tannins respond to proper aging in a way that creates pleasant changes in certain wines.
Aged wine is an asset. Increasingly, aged wine is seen as an ideal way to diversify one’s investment portfolio. Similar to fine art, wine investing is based on a tangible asset which is expected to increase in value over time. Investors buy, store and then resell their wine. For this to be feasible, the wine must be aged in virtually perfect conditions. After all, if your investment goes bad, well… it’s not much of an investment.
Properly storing wine over the course of years (or even decades) can vastly improve its character across the board, whether speaking of flavor or financial value.
Can You Store Wine in a Basement?
For many, a basement feels like a natural place to create a wine storage cellar. It’s cool, dark and often left undisturbed. Their cavernous appeal and location off the main route of the home makes them an admittedly romantic spot to build a full-fledged wine cellar. Unfortunately, basements are not always the ideal place to store wine, for several reasons.
Temperature regulation is difficult. A constant, regulated ambient temperature is absolutely key to wine storage, as temperature is a main factor that plays into good wines going spoiled. Not only are many basements not air-conditioned; they are susceptible to the constantly changing temperature of the outside world. Even a five to 10 degree shift in ambient temperature can totally destroy the conditions for properly aging wine.
Most aren’t well-insulated. Similarly, many basements have very poor insulation. There is little to buffer from the effects of seasonal shifts in weather. Replacing basement insulation is, of course, possible—but it’s an expensive, time-consuming process that most likely still won’t produce a suitable environment for wine storage and aging.
