We are lovers of good wine. We like to enjoy it on various occasions, with food, or just with friends. Proper storage plays a big role in its taste. Read our blog and find out how to get even more out of wine.
Balanced humidity and temperature is the key
It may not be news to you that wine should be stored lying down. But you probably didn't know why. If the bottle is closed with a cork, it is important that the wine and the cork touch each other. The cork can protect the wine from air entering the bottle. If you store wine in a room where you have cabbage fermenting at the same time, expect that you may also smell the cabbage flavor in the wine. The cork does not seal the bottle completely hermetically, as it might seem at first glance.
The right humidity, for example in a cellar, is especially important to prevent the cork from completely sucking the water out of the wine. If the room were dry, the cork would be able to drink the wine. The ideal humidity in the room where you store your wine is around 65%. This also applies if you store your wine in barrels. If the humidity were lower, the barrels would draw the water out of the wine and it would become too concentrated.
The same goes for storage temperature. It is ideal to have a balanced temperature in the room where the wine is stored at all times. Temperature fluctuations are very bad for wine, sometimes reaching more than 30°C and later -5°C. It is even worse for wine when it is kept in the cold for a long time. This is when tartar begins to form. You can tell whether the wine was well stored in stores by the amount of tartar. Red wine begins to separate the dye and degrade the taste.
It's best to leave it to wine cabinets that maintain a set temperature all year round, depending on what kind of wine you're storing in it. Tartar may not just be evidence of improper storage, however. Some types of wine develop tartar with age. It's difficult to tell whether the tartar is caused by age or storage. Its size can be a clue. Small crystals are formed by age, while large crystals are formed by improper storage.
Open the red ones before serving.
The taste of wine is also affected by its age. “We once opened an older red, probably from 1997 or 1999, and it was a completely different experience than when we tasted a fresh, new wine,” describes the difference in taste, said Ján Drobný, chairman of the board of directors of PD Vinohrady. “The taste of wine is shaped and smoothed out with age. I recommend trying at least a 7-year-old wine so that you can fully feel the difference,” he adds.
Red wines need a little oxygen to reveal their full potential. Therefore, before celebrations, open the bottles 3 to 4 hours before serving (decant the wine), or pour into a decanter. This will release all its aromas and flavors. “I once poured some wine and after a few days I noticed the bottle was open. So I poured it again and it was really delicious. Even better than right after opening,” continues Ján.
But be careful, wines left open for too long will slowly start to lose all their flavors and aromas.
White wine does not require such specific serving because it does not contain tannins and tannins, which are broken down and softened by oxidation. Red wines have more locked-in aromatics and something needs to be done to release them. For example, glasses are swirled - while red wines slowly open their aromas and white wines stop smelling. White wines should be drunk at a temperature of 8 - 10°C, red wines at a temperature of 18 - 20°C.
Wine can also go bad. Wine that has been open for too long will start to deteriorate and lose its aromatic substances. It can even catch various wine diseases, you can smell mouse urine and its taste will start to deteriorate. You may also be surprised by the vinegar taste - we do not recommend drinking such wine. In stores, you can also buy a wine pump with a special cap, thanks to which you can extract air from an open, unfinished bottle. This will create a kind of vacuum and keep it fresh longer.
We hope we have given you some advice and you will now be able to enjoy wine to the fullest. Check out our e-shop and choose a wine to start with ;)