Jancis Robinson is the author of the practical pocket-sized book called the 24-hour wine expert. Jancis Robinson is one of my personal favourite authors in the wine world. My library is full of her books, and I keep on buying them! Also, she is working with WSET awards. What's most surprising about her is that she is the first person (outside the wine trade) to pass the well known Master of Wine exam. Please visit her website https://www.jancisrobinson.com/
Ideal storage conditions:
- Temperature: ideal is 13'C, but everything 10'C - 15'C is acceptable. Take note that the warmer the temperature is, the faster the wine can age (an to warm will damage the wine). The temperature should be constant as much as possible and without dramatic changes.
- Light: Keep your wine away from intense light, daylight, artificial light any form of type of intense light.
- Strong smells: should be avoided.
- Humidity: the ideal is 75%. If it is too dry, corks can start do dry out and let oxygen in. If there is too much humidity, the wine will be wine, but the labels might fall off or get mouldy (potentially lower the price of the bottle).
- Vibrations: keep your bottles away from vibrations. You don't want the sediment in your glass when you are going to open a bottle.
Not ideal storage conditions:
- The kitchen cabinet: well you can keep your bottle there if you want to use it as vinegar or cooking wine.
- Garden sheds: could work, but if you live in Norway as I do, you might risk your wine getting frozen at wintertime.
How I store my wine bottles:
Don't laugh for this one. Well, I live in an apartment building with strong central heating at winter time so that leaving the wine bottles at my apartment is no go. So when I was moving, I got the idea to keep my wine bottles in the suitcase in the basement. It is away from strong light, almost ideal humidity, no strong smells (I guess), and no vibrations. So far, it is working, and I didn't notice any damage to the wine. - Most of the wines I have are not meant for very long time storage, but I do keep enough of each - the ones for a long time and the ones for short time storage.
How to keep track of your bottles:
I use Vivino (you can follow me on there as The wine student). It holds a record on which bottles you have in your cellar and which wines you have already tasted.
Bellow are the Jancis's reccomendations to how long to keep wine.
As always have a Winederful day! :)