Wine Storage Boxes That Are Great For Small Spaces

For long-term storage of antique wine collections, wine storage boxes are an integral consideration to prevent aging. Unlike most consumables, the taste of wine can improve the longer it ages, only if you keep it from unfavorable conditions.

Sometimes you find yourself hoarding more than you can consume. Therefore, how do you store the surplus bottles to prevent deterioration?

The majority of wine brands are best consumed within the first few years of release, leaving only a handful of brands that benefit taste-wise from long-term storage. The bigger picture in your mind should be investing in superior wine storage boxes if you plan to store wine for long.

The rules are simple for long-term wine storage – read through to take better care of your wine until when you feel like drinking them. But first, let's take a look at storage space.

Which is the best storage space for your bottles?

If you don't have the luxury of a basement that doubles as the storage area, you can build simple racks in rooms that don't receive direct sunlight or a room that is free of excessive humidity. This means that the kitchen, laundry room, and boiler room are out of the picture. Where storage space is limited, you should buy a small wine cooler and wine storage boxes that are great for small spaces for a small wine collection and keep to recommended storage guidelines. Lay wine storage boxes flat in a cool place, and have the wine fridge sit in a cool room to keep your electricity bill down.

Perhaps you could convert an old closet or empty storage room into a wine storage compartment. Preferably it should be dark and cool with adequate ventilation and not too damp or dry. Otherwise, you should invest in a cooling unit for your collection. Cooling units are chill, but why not look into wine storage boxes instead!

Turn off the heat

As a rule of thumb, heat is enemy number one; avoid it as much as possible. Ideally, store wine bottles in temperature below 70o F, any higher results in taste deteriorating at a faster rate causing loss of taste due to wine getting "cooked".

You may ask, what is the ideal temperature for wine storage? While there isn't a scientifically determined 'sweet spot', your target is between 45o F and 65o F (experts advocate for 55o F). However, if you don't intend to have a private collection for more than a couple of years, then you shouldn't be alarmed if storage temperature rises by a couple of degrees.

Remember that wine serving and wine storage temperatures are not the same for red and white wine. Indeed, the serving and storage temperature of either red and white wine vary.

But don't freeze

The refrigerator can be handy for short-term storage. After a couple of months, loss of humidity and temperature constantly below 45o F causes the cork to shrink, allowing air into the wine bottle tampering with the taste. Likewise, freezing is also harmful since liquids expand when they turn to ice and dislodge the cork from the bottle.

Avoid temperature swings

Keep in mind that you have the daunting task of avoiding the strange tides of temperature swings; keep bottles chilled but not too cold, and keep off heat. Apart from degrading flavors, temperature swings expand and contract wine at variable rates leading to seepage or a dislodged cork. Your target should be an equilibrium between cool and warm, but you shouldn't be startled because of minor temperature fluxes since the bottles bear the most brunt during transit to the store. (Heat most of the time results in seepage, but this is by no means an indication that wine has deteriorated. On the contrary, you can only be sure your wine is undamaged by opening it – chances are it still is delicious.)

Get in touch with the dark side

The main reason vintners use colored glass is because wine is sensitive to light, particularly UV rays from the sun. Sunlight is the leading culprit for premature loss of flavors. And while internal room lighting doesn't pose as much risk as sunlight, it can make wine labels fade in the long run. Experts recommend installing incandescent bulbs over fluorescent bulbs since they emit reduced amounts of UV rays.

Keep off humidity

Popular belief has it that wine should be kept chill at a humidity level of 70 percent. A lot of damage is theorized to be from the entry of air into the bottle. But while this is the case, most of the time, you have to be living in extreme conditions; either in the arctic or desert; otherwise, you have nothing to worry about. 

Easier said than done, 50 to 80% is the humidity level you should aim for in your cellar. But if push comes to shove, you should definitely add a pan of water to improve air humidity. On the other hand, damp conditions stimulate the growth of mold. While this doesn't pose a risk to tightly sealed bottles, it can damage labels, obliging you to buy a dehumidifier.

Lay on the side

For a long time, common knowledge dictates that wine bottles should be stored on their sides to keep corks moist for longer. But if you are buying wine to enjoy the sweet and sour of it in a few months, or the bottles have airtight closures like plastic and glass corks or screwcaps, there is no point to all this. The take-home point is this: lay flat wine storage boxes to store wine bottles for longer and save on storage space.

Don't shake it off

Another unavoidable problem is vibrations, which wine fanatics say is a catalyst for chemical reactions taking place in wine. Some take it further by explaining how sound vibrations from electrical gadgets though minute can result in the most damage. While there is little to back this up, vibrations keep sediments afloat, especially in older wines, making them gritty annoyingly. Most vibrations occur during transit, but after that, there is not much that happens between storage and consumption to alter wine quality.