Owning a wine cellar is the basis of great enjoyment, but there are pitfalls if one loses control of their inventory. A poor wine inventory will lead to a waste of wine as much as poor storage conditions. Opening a wine way too young or past its prime are mistakes we are all bound to make one time or another.

Take notes! Create a system.

• Catalog the location and age of your bottles.
• Indexing the wines in your racks will help you locate and keep track of every wine in your collection. Bottle tags or bar code stickers can be helpful.
• Keep track of every bottle going in or out of the cellar. The bottle tags may be set aside for keeping your cellar log up to date, or a barcode system can be used to simply swipe the bottles going in and out of the cellar.
• Although many bottles of wine age well, others are best drunk young. Keeping a record as you drink them will help you decide what wines to drink when. Sad is saving a wine for too long only to have it taste flabby or thin when you could have enjoyed it earlier. Keeping a record will help prevent this.
• To prevent wines from aging too quickly make sure your cellar is at optimum temperature and humidity. 55 degrees or 13 degrees C is the standard, although a few degrees probably will not make much of a difference as long as it doesn’t fluctuate too much.
• Having a wine cellar in your home is a wonderful way to monitor your wines and have wine ready at a moment’s notice.
• Sell when conditions are right. Our tastes change with time. If your cellar is carrying too many wines, that you have grown out of or are about to over-age, sell them now. This leaves you with wines you know you can enjoy and funds to stock up on wines to suit your taste. If the market has a higher perception of a wine than you do, why not sell it and replace it with something of better value in your view.
• Be confident of your tastes. After all, who is going to tell you a wine tastes better than another? You! Taste the wines you are going to cellar. Beware of storing wines for many years on the advice of others. Your tastes will differ.
• Your taste will develop and evolve over time. Build up your cellar carefully and don’t be afraid if you trade or sell off bottles that no longer interest you.
• Your cellar should have a balanced mix of wines ready to drink now, inexpensive wines for entertaining, wines that are aging and special wines for special occasions.

See our related post:
How to Select the Right Wines for Your Wine Cellar

~

Summit Wine Cellars, LLC, (https://summit-cellars.com) offers one-stop expertise as a complete wine cellar contractor guiding both residential and commercial clients from concept and consultation through wine cellar design, fabrication and installation. Owner/designer Fred Tregaskis creates dramatic custom wine cellars for fine homes, restaurants, hotels and wineries throughout the world.

To learn more about Summit Wine Cellars, LLC, contact Summit Wine Cellars by email at info@summit-cellars.com, or by phone at 203-916-1664.