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#5- 4071 Shelbourne StreetVictoria, BC250-472-2288

Wine Storage & Cellaring

Storage Tips

Follow these simple guidelines to ensure top quality wine:

CORKS - Synthetic - Nomacorc™

Do:

  • You can Store your wine upright if you are using Synthetic - Nomacorc™ Corks
  • Store your wine in a cool, dark place
  • Your wine should be stored where the temperature is CONSISTENT… Bright light, movement, and temperature fluctuations can negatively affect the quality of your wine

Do Not:

  • Do not constantly turn your wine. Red wines will sometimes dust (leave residue on the inside of the bottle). This is normal. Simply decant your wine
  • Do not store your wine directly on a cement floor. Put a thick piece of wood under your wine storage boxes
  • Do not store your wine on heated floors


CORKS - Agglomerated (or Real Cork)

Do:

  • Store your wine upright for the first 3 to 5 days if using Real corks
  • After that, store your wine on its side in order to keep the cork moist
  • Store your wine in a cool, dark place
  • Your wine should be stored where the temperature is CONSISTENT… Bright light, movement, and temperature fluctuations can negatively affect the quality of your wine

Do Not:

  • Do not constantly turn your wine. Red wines will sometimes dust (leave residue on the inside of the bottle). This is normal. Simply decant your wine
  • Do not store your wine directly on a cement floor. Put a thick piece of wood under your wine storage boxes
  • Do not store your wine on heated floors

Cellar Planning

One thing that books and courses on winemaking never seem to teach is how to build up a good cellar of wine made on premises. If you’re like most winemakers, you always seem to be drinking the last bottle of your batch before it’s really perfectly aged.

  1. Determine how much wine you use. This includes your daily glasses with dinner, weekend dinner parties, friends dropping by, birthdays, anniversaries, the holiday weekend, house warming presents, your thirsty brother-in-law, etc. Let’s say that comes to about three bottles per week, all together. Split it up as per your preference for red and white (don’t forget pink and dessert).
  2. Multiply your weekly consumption by 12 weeks and divide by 30 bottles to determine your first order for your new cellar.
  3. Each time you bottle put 12 bottles of each batch away in your cellar (or at least a hard to reach area). Make sure you add the date of bottling to each case or write on the shrink cap of each bottle. Now forget about your cellar wines for at least a 9-12 months.
  4. Drink the balance of your young wine, as you need it.
  5. At the end of one year start opening those fully aged bottles, and enjoy the tremendous improvement that good cellaring can bring. You’ll be a convert to aged wines.