Serving And Storing Our Wines

As a general rule, all of our wines are made to be drunk soon after leaving our tasting room, or at least within six to twelve months after purchase. Most of our red wines have already been aged for two years or more, and our whites have been aged for over one year so they are ready for use.  Although it will not hurt them to store or age them further, doing so will not necessarily make them taste significantly better. If you do store our wines for more than a few months, make sure to use a wine rack or at least keep them on their sides so that the cork does not dry out. Although we do not currently use screw caps, these types of closures DO NOT need to be stored on their sides.

Be careful how you transport your wine purchase. DO NOT let our wines sit in a hot car or expose it to strong sunlight for an extended period of time.  Also, as a general rule, wine does not travel well, so you should let it rest for a day or so before serving after it’s been on the road.  The same rule holds if you are bringing some wine as a gift for a dinner party. In fact some people prefer to bring the wine to the guest a day or so earlier if the plan is to serve it with the meal. 

If possible, try to store your wine in a cool, dark area such as your basement where the temperature ranges between 50 to 68 degrees year round.  Note that any temperature change should always be gradual. Sudden temperature changes can reduce the quality of the wine. This is why a kitchen is NOT a good place to store your wine. Also, the refrigerator is NOT a good place to store wine because the temperature is too cold and also because the vibrations due to cooling may hurt your wines. The room where you store room should allow air to circulate, and should not be either too dry or too humid. Optimal humidity levels for storing wine are between 70 and 80 percent.

Serving wines tends to vary depending on personal tastes. As a general rule, I like to serve white wines at about 55 degrees, rose or sparkling wines at about 50 degrees, full bodied reds at about 65 degrees and light or fruity reds at about 55 to 60 degrees. However, on a really hot day, it’s best to serve reds at a slightly lower temperature, and I also prefer my “young” wines to be a bit more chilled.  Cooler temperatures will probably be better for most cheaper whites or reds. Some people use the two hour rule if they forget to chill their whites or if their reds are too cold.  If your white wine is warm, put it in the refrigerator for about two hours. If your red wine has been in a refrigerator over night, let it sit out for two hours before serving.  Generally speaking refrigerators tend to cool wine about 2 or 3 degrees every ten minutes, so you can estimate how long you will need to keep your wine in there for a proper temperature. Probably the best way to chill bottle of white wine is to put it in a bucket of ice and water for about a half an hour.  Whites and rosés do not require any "breathing" time before serving.  A good rule of thumb for most reds is to let it breath for about a half hour before serving, but very young and tannic wines may require longer periods (up to two hours) in some cases. Here's a tip for our Port-style dessert wines: put them in the freezer for two hours before serving!

How long can you keep wine after opening it? This again tends to very subjective, but both red and white wines can be kept for at least a few days without any significant loss of flavor. White wines tend to be a bit more forgiving than reds in this regard. Our dessert wines usually will last much longer than our other wines due to their higher alcohol level. We recommend that you use a wine vacuum when you store your wine bottles after opeping them. It is a very useful and inexpensive accessory. These can be purchased in our tasting room. When in doubt, try it before throwing any wine away. Even if it no longer tastes that good, you can always use it for cooking!