Wine Storage for the Average Wine Drinker

Did you know that most wine is manufactured to be ready for immediate consumption, or, "ready-to-drink"? These wines will not improve significantly with time. This means that if you're like me, and are just an average wine drinker who likely consumes their wine in the same month it was purchased, then the storage requirements for your wine are not that complicated. Here are the most important factors for storing your "ready-to-drink" wines:

• Sunlight and UV exposure: Light will prematurely age a bottle of wine, and not in a good way. The tannins in wine are particularily susceptable to UV rays. With exposure to light or UV, your wine will likely become flat and thin. In summary, store your wine in a dark place.
  
• Temperature: Damage to your wine from temperature can result in premature oxidation. This can cause a change in color to your red wines, as well as change the taste. The most important factor relating to temperature is controlling temperature changes. Slow changes between seasons in temperature is not an issue, however daily temperature changes of more than a few degrees will cause the cork to rapidly expand and contract - as a result it will let oxygen in to the bottle. In summary, try to keep your wine at a consistent temperature somewhere between 5-18 degrees centigrade
  
• Humidity: Corks are very sensitive to humidity. If the air is too dry, the cork can shrink, loose its elasticity, and therefore end up letting oxygen in to the bottle. Overall, 70% relative humidity is recommended with 50-80% being an acceptable range.

Following these conditions, you can safely store your wine for about 8-12 months.