We’ll never say it enough: when it comes to fine wine, proper storage is essential to preserving quality, and allowing it to reach its full potential through graceful ageing. There are wine storage spaces, and there are ageing cellars. The distinction between the two is defined below.
Most wine is bottled, shipped from wineries to a number of storage warehouses for a short period of time, and then transported onwards to be consumed quickly. Warehouses set up for this purpose are designed to hold large quantities of wine, and facilitate frequent inflow and outflow. While they maintain basic environmental controls such as temperature (between 14°C – 18°C), the goals are fundamentally short-term, focusing on inventory management more than on the long-term conditions of storage.
An ageing cellar, on the other hand, serves a more delicate purpose, of longer duration. Fine wines that are made to improve with time require careful handling. A lower temperature (12°C), controlled humidity (75% RH), consistent darkness, and air purified of contaminants are all key in affording the most sacred bottles their beauty sleep.
1275 ageing cellar live feed, Geneva Free Port