Keeping your wine collection inside a wine cabinet will protect it from its enemies: harsh light, temperature fluctuations, dry conditions, and unwanted vibrations. A wine cabinet is a stylish, space-saving, and cost-effective alternative to a traditional wine cellar. With proper maintenance and care, a good wine cabinet can last many years. Here's what to look for if you are shopping for a wine cabinet.

Custom Aluminum Wine Cabinet by Vinotemp

On average, the interior depth of a wine cabinet is around 24-inches, 27-inches, or 29-inches. Here is an introductory discussion about what affects the depth of a wine cabinet.

Custom Vinotemp Wine Cabinets, Skyloft Restaurant Laguna Beach, CA

Wine cabinets take advantage of vertical space, hold hundreds of bottles, and do not require lots of square footage like a traditional wine cellar or wine room. Many wine cabinets are made to order and customized to a customer's style and storage requirements. They are an outstanding wine cellaring option for both residential and commercial use. Before you invest, you will need to know a few basics about wine cabinets.

Residential Custom Wine Cabinet by Vinotemp

After that period, the wine will no longer taste delicious and will lose many desirable qualities. A wine that is meant to be aged will generally cost more ($50+) and will be designated for cellaring by the winemaker or your trusted wine source. Other clues that a wine should be cellared long term include high acidity, strong tannins, and excellent fruit. Since most wine is not made to be aged, you may be wondering if the bottle of wine that has been sitting in your pantry for many years is safe to drink.

Whether you are storing your wine for long or short-term storage, it is important to keep wine under the best conditions to ensure it tastes its best once uncorked. Ideally, your wine should be stored at a cool 55◦F in a dark room where it will not be exposed to prolonged sunlight or harsh overhead lighting. The relative humidity inside the space should be between 70-90%. You will want to keep your wine stacked carefully on its side or in a sturdy wine rack that will hold the bottle horizontally to ensure the cork stays moist. If you meet these conditions, you will prolong the life of the wine and ensure it does not spoil before its expiration date.

First, you must understand that if you store your wine on an upside-down or inverted wine rack, the sediment inside the bottle will settle by the cork. If a bottle has been resting with the neck down for a long time, once you turn the bottle right side up to remove the cork and pour a glass, most sediment will disperse into the wine. You will want to use a filter to remove sediment unless you do not mind the taste. Next, since wine and sediment will both be applying pressure to the cork, you will want to check for potential leaks regularly. These rules do not apply if you store wine with a screw cap or for bottles you plan to drink soon. Lastly (and perhaps most obvious), do not store wine that has been uncorked on an inverted wine rack. The wine will most definitely spill. Inverted wine racks are primarily used for decorative purposes or to showcase just a few bottles. They are not necessarily designed for long term storage. The best way to store wine bottles long term is on its side.

Epicureanist Wall-Mounted Horizontal Display Rack

If the wine’s temperature is too cold or too warm, you will likely miss its flavor profile and character. There are many tools and methods to ensure your wine is served at just the right temperature; proper time spent in a cellar or wine cooler, a bottle thermometer, allowing the wine to decant at room temperature, and more. Red wines should generally be served slightly colder than room temperature between 62-68◦F. White wines taste best when served between 49-55◦F. It can be particularly challenging to keep both red and white wines cool during warmer seasons. One way to keep bottles cold for up to three hours is to use a wine bottle chiller.

Epicureanist Bottle Chiller

We have all had those puzzling moments where we are staring at our wine collection, trying to figure out where we put that delicious bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. If only we had organized our cellar a little more carefully, we wouldn’t have to pull out each bottle to find what we needed. Luckily, there are some easy ways to organize your wine cellar and keep track of what should be opened soon. Here are some tips to help you organize your cellar or wine rack.

Epicureanist Reusable Wine Tags

There is no need to waste leftover wine, pouring it down the kitchen sink. By taking the proper steps to store it, you can still enjoy your leftover wine for several days.

Whether you are storing your wine at room temperature or inside an insulated storage area such as a wine cellar, you will want to ensure that your wine rack is installed correctly. By taking the time to mount your new wine rack carefully, you can ensure that there will be no accidents, less permanent damage to your wall and that the wine is stored securely.

Before we discuss installation, please note that each wine rack will have its own unique set of instructions provided by the manufacturer. While we will provide basic guidance in this post to give you an idea of how much assembly may be required from a wall-mounted wine rack, it is also important to carefully read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Let’s begin.

For hundreds of years, cork has been the preferred way to seal wine, but screw caps have become common since their invention in the 1950s. At first, screw tops were only associated with cheap wine, but screw caps can now be found on expensive bottles.

Aside from cork being an easy to attain material, there is another reason a winemaker may have chosen cork to seal bottles --- the proper amount of oxidization. Since cork is a porous material, winemakers have designed their wines to age over time by allowing the right amount of air to enter the bottle through the cork. This is why wine is traditionally stored on its side to keep the cork wet and minimize oxidization. Just enough air and the wine will develop its taste as it was intended. Too much air and the wine will lose its flavors and aromas.