18 Oct Maintaining Your Wine Chilled
For most beverages, temperature and position during storage don’t modify the flavor or integrity of the drink. (Okay, wait. Temp does matter for milk.) Seriously, for the most part, it doesn’t matter … whether cold or hot, your soda won’t spoil, and water might taste better chilled, but it doesn’t hurt it any to be warm. The same can’t be said for wine, however. (Move over and make room for Super Finicky … yep, that’s correct.) Wine proclaims a reputation for culture and class, so I guess we shouldn’t be stunned that it needs to be treated differently. From a wine becoming “corked” to the stability of the flavor altering, you have to make certain that you note of a few things so it is still what it should be when you actually open a bottle.
For permanent storage at home, you really like to acquire a wine refrigerator where you can set the temperature. A regular refrigerator is too cold to store wine in for a substantial period of time, and having a fridge that is geared specifically for wine storage will keep all your vintages at the optimum temp for the duration of their shelf life.
What are you intended to carry out, however, when you’re on the road? If you’re on a wine tour and end up acquiring several bottles to take home, how do you keep the wine from being modified by the temperature in the car when the bottles are lying in the sun? If you’re going on a picnic adventure to the lake for the afternoon, what’s the ideal way to keep the wine chilled until you’re all ready to open the bottle? Or, if you must send some wine to a friend, what’s the most effective way to do it? Listed here are the factors to have on hand for all of your wine-storing needs.
Keeping your wine for a few hours (or on a road trip.
If you need the wine to stay good for quite a while, consider investing in a thermoelectric cooler (one made by Igloo or Coleman, for example). These keep the wine (or some other beverages you want cooled) at a good temp by connecting in the cooler, or using your battery outlet in the car as you travel.
For getting the wine bottles cool immediately.
It’s pretty handy to buy a wine cooler sleeve to have on hand. Basically, you buy it and freeze it for some hours beforehand, and then you can pull it out of the freezer, slip the bottle inside, and it will cool the wine in just a matter of minutes.
Maintaining it cool for a few hours.
If you’re only buying a couple of bottles and don’t have to keep the wine cool for hours on end, consider investing in a neoprene wine tote. They’re compact and easy to carry around for the afternoon if you’re on a wine tour and don’t want the couple bottles that you purchase to go bad by leaving them in the car.
For sending wine to friends or transporting it home.
It’s a pretty good idea to invest in styrofoam wine shippers that keep the bottles shielded when you have to ship wine. They’re also handy because they’ll help prevent the bottles from moving around inside the box and potentially cracking.
Keeping the bottle on its side allows the wine to be touching the cork, and this is important so the cork doesn’t dry out. If it dries out, your bottle of wine will likely become “corked,” destroying the integrity of the wine’s flavor.
It appears to be complicated, but it’s really just about learning the secrets of the trade. Once you recognize with what you need to bear in mind, you’ll manage to keep your wine fresh and unspoiled so your dinner party (or beach celebration, holiday fun, or celebratory occasion!) will be on point.