Most wine should be consumed within a couple of years of bottling, so your job is to keep your wine away from harm, which means away from light, vibration, extraneous odors, and temperature fluctuations
Refrigerators are good for cooling wine but fail on all counts for wine storage. It's best not to keep your wine in the refrigerator for more than a few days.
For everyday needs, storing wine in the home is fine. Know how long your wine is intended to be good for, find a dark spot in a quiet room where you can keep temperatures consistent, lay the wine bottles on their sides, and your wine should be ready to enjoy when you are.
Wine Storage
Almost all wine produced these days is pretty much ready to drink within a short timeframe. For most of us, storing wine is about preserving the quality of a wine, and avoiding conditions that can harm the wine. **(Collecting and aging wine is a topic to be covered in another post - AH)
Wine storage perfection is nice, but it isn’t feasible for most of us, and unless you have a case of 2016 Chateau Petrus you want to pamper for 30 years, it’s not mission-critical
While this post catalogs “ideal” wine storage conditions, as you’ll see, you don’t need to buy a 17th-century chateau to store your wine.
Wine Storage Perfection Not Needed
Most wine will (should) be consumed within a couple of years of bottling, so your job is to keep your wine from harm. What causes wine harm? Light, vibration, extraneous odors, and temperature fluctuations.
Let’s eliminate one thing at the outset: storing wine in refrigerators fails on all counts. Additionally, refrigerators are too dry, which can dehydrate natural cork, making matters worse. Refrigerators are good for cooling, but wine shouldn’t spend more than a few days in there.
Wine reacts to its environment, but some basic care is all that’s needed. And remember, any bottle of wine you bring home from the store is going to survive a couple of days no matter how you keep it (within reason). Just try to give it a day’s rest before opening.
For storing wine for more than a few days, a dark, quiet spot, without traffic, and away from vibrating machines is enough. Store wine bottles on their side to reduce the risk of cork drying out.
Keeping temperature consistent is far more important than the absolute temperature, however, avoid extremes: below 8°C and above 24°C.
Now, for the nitty-gritty of wine storage perfection, keep reading.
All That Said, How Should Wine Get Stored for Longer?
The cornerstones of wine storage are consistent temperature, no light, moderate humidity, minimal vibrations, and no extraneous odors.
Generally, wine bottles are stored laying down so the wine stays in contact with the cork. This prevents it from drying out and allowing too much air exchange.
As a side note, there are studies that indicated it might be better to have the bottle tilted so the air pocket is at the cork, but with wine still in contact with the cork.
Also, some Champagne producers recommend storing Champagne upright, since the pressure in the bottle will keep the cork moist, and keeping the Champagne away from the cork reduces the risk of cork taint.
Not that you asked, but I store everything lying down.
TIP: get in the habit of always storing wine with the label up, then when it's time to decant or serve an old wine, you know where the sediment is and can avoid agitating it.
Temperature
For wine storage, a constant temperature between 10-15°C (50-59°F) is ideal.
Cooler temperatures can delay maturing and add several years for the wine to reach its peak. Extreme cool temperatures, 8°C (48°F) and lower can block maturing entirely, leaving tannins hard and metallic.
Wine stored too warm will mature quicker and stored above 25°C (77°F), wine can lose tannin & fruit, can impact the color, and leave wine tasting flat and alcoholic.
Temperature swings can be particularly insidious. Minor seasonal temperature fluctuations aren’t a major cause of concern, but frequent temperature swings, such as day and night in some regions, can prematurely age wine or introduce flaws.
Light
Light is bad for wine; it interacts with the volatile liquids in the wine bottle and can cause all kinds of molecular mayhem, leaving sherry-like oxidation flavors or rotten egg aromas.
In the Champagne region, they call this kind of damage, "goût de lumière"
UV light is particularly bad.
Humidity
Humidity impacts the wine via the cork, specifically the natural cork used in some bottles. It is irrelevant for synthetic corks which are not used for wines intended for longer storage.
Keeping humidity in the 70%-75% range is enough to reduce the risk of cork drying out or getting brittle. Dry corks form poor seals which allows too much air exchange, which can oxidize the wine and even turn it to vinegar.
Too high a humidity can wreak havoc on wine labels and lead to mold on the cork and in the cellar. Some molds produce organic compounds that smell (see Extraneous Odors below). Some mold on the outside of a wine cork is generally not a problem for the wine.
As far as mold in the cellar, while there are those that think mold can contribute to the complexity of the wine, for health reasons you may not want to expose yourself to mold spores.
Extraneous Odors
Part of the maturing process for wine is the slight exchange of air that natural cork provides, so any extraneous odors in the environment can be assimilated into the wine. Bacteria can also find their way past a cork, just ask anyone making vinegar in the same place they store their wine.
Air circulation can help keep extraneous odors down.
Places to store wine
For the serious collector, space can be rented in storage facilities that maintain the right wine storage environment.
Depending on what part of the world you live in, homes and apartments can have cellars that can provide great wine storage. Just be aware of humidity, and in the case of shared space, you may need to protect it from light.
Dedicated wine storage units come in a range of sizes. Although they look like refrigerators, they are designed to regulate temperature & humidity, filter the air, and are low vibration.
For everyday needs, storing wine in the home is perfectly fine, especially for shorter periods. If you have a dark spot in a quiet room where you can keep temperatures consistent, your wine should be happy.