Red wine needs proper storage at home to maintain its flavour and quality over time. Whether you plan to drink it soon or save it for a special occasion, how you store wine will affect its taste. In this guide, you’ll learn the best practices for storing wine – from keeping unopened bottles in the right conditions to preserving an opened bottle for a few days. By following these tips, you’ll ensure your favourite red wines stay flavourful and enjoyable whenever you’re ready to pour a glass.
How to Store Unopened Red Wine
For unopened bottles, the goal is to keep the wine in a stable, cool environment so it maintains its original taste. Temperature, light exposure, and bottle position all affect a wine’s longevity. Follow these key tips to store unopened red wine properly at home:
- Cool & Dark: Store red wine in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight and any heat sources. A cupboard, cellar, or wine rack in a dim area works well. Light and heat can cause wine to age too fast or spoil. Keeping bottles in the dark helps preserve their flavour and colour.
- Steady Temperature: Aim for a consistent moderate temperature (around 12–18 °C if possible). Avoid extreme heat or cold, and prevent big temperature swings, which can spoil the wine. Rapid changes can push the cork or cause seepage. Keeping the storage area around cellar temperature (approximately 55 °F) is ideal for red wines.
- Lay Bottles Sideways: If the bottle has a natural cork, keep it stored on its side to keep the cork moist. This ensures the cork stays expanded and sealed, preventing air from sneaking into the bottle. (For screw-cap bottles this isn’t necessary, though horizontal storage is an efficient way to save space.) Keeping corks from drying out will help avoid oxidation of the wine.
- Moderate Humidity: If possible, maintain a bit of humidity (around 60–70%) in the storage area. A slightly humid environment prevents corks from drying and shrinking. Most household conditions are fine, but avoid very dry spots (which could dry the cork) or extremely damp places (which could cause mold on labels or corks).
- Minimise Vibration: Keep the wine bottles still. Store them where they won’t be jostled by movement or constant vibrations (for example, away from loud appliances or heavy foot traffic). Excessive vibration can disturb the wine’s maturation and stir up sediments, affecting flavour. Choose a stable, quiet spot for your reds.
- Don’t Prolong Storage: Most everyday red wines aren’t meant for very long aging. Plan to drink common reds within a few years of purchase for best flavour and freshness. Only certain high-end red wines (like fine Bordeaux or vintage Port) can age for a decade or more under professional cellar conditions. In general, don’t keep bottles for too long unless they are specifically meant for aging.
In fact, many red wines are crafted to be enjoyed relatively young. For example, VDG Red is an easy-drinking Portuguese red blend best enjoyed within about three years of its vintage. On the other hand, a more structured wine like Porta da Ravessa Red Reserve has an ageing potential of 5–8 years when stored under proper conditions. Generally speaking, it’s wise to buy wine in quantities you can drink within a few years. If you’re stocking up on your favourites, consider buying by the case for value. (Bulkyway’s online red collection offers multi-bottle packs at discounted prices – perfect for keeping your home wine rack well-stocked.)
How to Store Opened Red Wine
Once you’ve opened a bottle of wine, proper storage is crucial to preserve what’s left. An opened wine starts to oxidise when exposed to air, so you need to slow that process. Here are the steps to keep an opened wine fresh for as long as possible:
- Reseal & Upright: Immediately recork the wine bottle tightly with the original cork, or use a wine stopper. Then store the bottle standing upright. Resealing limits air contact, and keeping the bottle upright minimizses the wine’s surface area exposed to oxygen. This helps keep the remaining wine fresh as long as possible.
- Store Cool (Refrigerate): Place the opened red wine in a cool, dark place. Ideally, put it in the refrigerator – the cold temperature significantly slows down oxidation and keeps the wine fresher. Don’t worry if the red wine gets a bit chilled; you can let it warm back up to serving temperature when you’re ready to drink it again. Avoid storing an opened red in a warm kitchen or near heat, as it will spoil much faster.
- Consume in 3–5 Days: Try to finish the opened red within about 3 to 5 days for best taste and aroma. Each day the bottle is open, the wine will gradually lose some of its flavour and vibrancy. After a few days, most reds will start to taste flat or oxidised. It’s best to enjoy the wine sooner rather than later once opened.
- (Optional) Use Wine Preservers: If you have a wine vacuum pump or an inert gas wine preserver, use it on the opened bottle after recorking. These tools can remove or replace the air in the bottle, which may help extend the wine’s freshness by an extra day or two. However, even with these measures, an opened red wine won’t stay perfect indefinitely – it’s still recommended to finish it within a few days.
By following the steps above, you can get the most out of an opened bottle of red. Always remember: if the wine’s aroma or taste has turned dull or unpleasant, it’s a sign the wine is past its prime. When in doubt, it’s better to open a new bottle of red than to drink one that’s been open too long.
