Some experts say better to drink cheap wine that's been properly cellared, than an expensive drop that's been poorly stored. But just how delicate a process is wine maturation and what do we need to keep in mind when we store our precious vino?
Certainly wine maturation is a delicate process that requires a carefully controlled environment to achieve the best quality characteristics. According to Léonie Simart, importer and distributor of Transtherm and Vintec wine cabinets, stored wine requires two prime constants – constant temperature and constant humidity.
"Just a fluctuation of five degrees is enough to take your wine out," Simart says. "So even in a penthouse with reverse cycle air conditioning, without proper storage you are going to cook your wines in winter and freeze them in summer."
How to preserve your wine
If you don't have the space, the budget or the wine collection to have a custom-designed wine cellar, then smart wine cabinet storage will solve the problem.
Top-of-the-line cabinets, such as the French-made Transtherm units, bring to-gether the five criteria that you need for optimal wine preservation:
• Reinforced insulation made up of several thermal barriers.
• Automatic temperature control of 10–14°C driven by a slow cycle compressor.
• Adapted humidity between 50 per cent and 80 per cent to prevent corks from drying out.
• Natural filtered ventilation to prevent odour and mould.
• Absence of vibration from a balanced compressor mounted on silent-blocks.
Ashley Williams of Wine Cabinets Australia (Choice Refrigeration) also sells Transtherm cabinets and says he has seen customers converted to proper wine preservation after suffering the loss of just one valuable bottle in their collection.
"Just a week ago a customer told me that he lost a $300 bottle of wine. It's such a shame to keep something like that for five years only to find it has gone off for want of proper storage."
Apart from Transtherm, Williams also stocks imported wine cabinets such as Vintec and Liebherr brands.
"But being a refrigeration mechanic by training, I only stock those products in which I have confidence," he says. The high-profile Liebherr wine cabinets he sells are made in Germany by the family-owned engineering company of the same name.
