Storing wine in the dark

More and more wine enthusiasts are storing larger quantities of wine at home, but why should wine be stored in the dark?

 

It is very important to keep wine in the dark. Sun and (artificial) light, especially the UV radiation in it, have a negative impact on the color and taste of wine.

 

If wine is stored in a bright room, it will discolor due to the influence on the polyphenols and anthocyanins. These will then decompose and the color will change, but the taste will also be negatively affected. Light will also change the chemical composition of the wine and the tannin will be affected by occurring oxidation.

 

So the process of oxidation is actually a desirable process of the wine, therefore it actually improves it to a certain extent, but it should certainly not happen too quickly. With the right dose of oxygen, the wine will mature, evolve, become softer and more supple, and develop the desired aromas of "old" wine. If too much oxygen is added (in a short period of time or if the wine has been stored for far too long), you will get a flattening of aroma and taste, until nothing is left but sour juice ... vinegar.

 

The darker the bottle, the more uv-radiation it will block. So a brown bottle is better than a green bottle and this in turn will block uv radiation better than a blue or white bottle. For this reason, you sometimes see bottles wrapped in paper.

 

The glass doors of EuroCave 's wine cabinets are treated to block 100% of uv rays, so you can confidently place your storage wines in plain sight and store completely uv-free. The amber lighting in the wine cabinets is also 100% uv-free and does not emit heat. However, the blue light that many other wine cabinets use in their wine cabinets is very bad for your wines. Blue light is at the farthest, highest end of the visible light spectrum. The energy of blue is so high that it sits right next to the invisible UV light on the full light spectrum and is therefore harmful to your wines.