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Wine Education
Wine Storage
Atherton Appliance & Kitchens is happy to help you learn more about fine wines to
compliment your new culinary adventures. To assist you, we have created a wine
education center and a beautiful wine room, called Le Chateau du Vin. This room
features specialized wine storage equipment to suit your individual needs.
When it comes to proper storage, there are four important factors that are crucial in preserving wine properly. They are:
Temperature
Humidity
Light
Vibration
Temperature:
Having precise and consistent temperatures is key when storing wine. Any temperature fluctuation will damage the wine as too warm of temperatures will excel the aging process and the cold will slow it down. Wine cannot handle such extreme change, so keeping wine in a closet or garage will shorten its life span. Buying a wine storage unit that can maintain a steady temperature will allow the wine to age gracefully and properly. The ideal storing temperature is between 50 and 55 degrees.
Humidity:
Another very important element of proper wine storage is humidity. Humidity is necessary in keeping the cork moist so it does not dry out and eventually ruin the wine. Purchasing a wine storage appliance can be an excellent investment because a standard refrigerator will provide stale cold air as opposed to a wine unit with humidity built into it.
Light:
Heat or light can spoil a good bottle of wine, so it is vital to keep wine away from direct sunlight. A wine storage refrigerator might be a suitable solution because some manufacturers provide tinted glass, which minimizes the amount of ultraviolet light entering the unit.
Vibration:
Vibration is just as important, or the lack thereof, as the initial three wine storing factors listed above and not one can exist without the other. Wine is delicate and it requires stability, which is why keeping wine bottles on their sides, whether in a wine storage unit or on racks, is essential. Certain wine storage refrigerators will provide ball-bearing glides that protect the wine – particularly red wines – from shaking and loosening the sediment when shelves are rolled in or out.
