If you are just getting into collecting wine, you are going to want to know how to correctly store your wines. Storing wine correctly will help ensure that your wine is at the optimal temperature to drink when you are ready to enjoy that beverage.

#1 Store Your Bottles Horizontally

There are a few different reasons to store your bottles horizontally. By storing your bottles horizontally, the liquid is up against the cork, which helps prevent the cork from drying out. Your cork drying out should not really be an issue though if you plan on drinking the wine within a few years of purchasing it.

Additionally, storing wine bottles horizontally is also one of the most space-saving ways to store your wine. A wine collection stored horizontally takes up a lot less space than one stored vertically. Your wine bottles are also a lot less likely to fall and break with a horizontal storing set-up compared to a vertical storage set-up.

#2 Balance the Humidity

Ideally, you want to balance the humidity when you store your wine bottles. You want the humidity to not be too low, which can lead to the corks drying out, air getting into the bottle, and the wine getting spoiled. You don't want the humidity to be too high, which could lead to mold.

However, the natural humidity level should be okay in your home. As long as you don't live in desert or extremely cold conditions, the inside humidity levels should be okay. If you live somewhere really dry, you'll want to use a humidifier and if you live somewhere really wet, you'll want to use a dehumidifier in the room where you store your wine.

#3 Keep Things Dark

Over time, the UV rays from the sun can damage wine. The ultraviolet rays both degrade and age wine at an accelerated rate. Wine is generally stored in colored glass bottles in order to reduce the impact of ultraviolet rays. The light from lightbulbs in your house will not damage the wine, but may cause the labels on the bottle to fade.

It is best to store your wine in a dark room or a dark space. That way, the quality of your wine will not be compromised by the sun at all.

#4 Keep the Temperature Consistent

One of the best places to store your wine is inside of a wine cooler or refrigerator where you can keep the temperature consistent. Keeping the temperature at a consistent level, for all colors of wine, will help preserve your wine and ensure that your wine is at a drinkable temperature whenever you want to open up a bottle.