I am a serious wine noob, noob might even be a step up from where I am at. I do love red wine, have a glass every day. Anyways, there are some wines I have been buying that I want to save. Should I just store these on a shelf somewhere or what is the best way to store wine. Also, does wine go bad?

If you want wines to improve over a course of years then 55 degrees is the accepted temperature. If you are drinking them now then don't worry about storage too much just get the temperature down on red wines to 60-65 degrees for serving. Most folks here have their red wines in cellars at 55 degrees then set out the bottle for a few minutes to warm them for serving.

Nice wine storage units are available at Costco and other stores like that. Like any perishable wine will go bad. There are many variables to this.

Welcome to VC.

Great writeup, Winetex!!

Thanks for the reply. There are some of my favorites that I want to keep for a while, while others I drink right away. Storing is obviously for those bottles I want to keep for who knows how long. Another noob question, but wine improves over time if stored properly? If wine stored properly in a wine fridge, what kind of life does it still have?

just a small addition to winetex's list - variations in temperature are wines' worst enemy. as the wine warms up, the air in the neck expands and pushes past the cork. When it cools down, new air (specifically oxygen) is pulled back into the bottle and reacts with the wine. Enough of that and you will have a dead bottle of wine. So, storing the wine at 68 degrees would be better than a basement that, for example, changes 10-15 degrees every day.

Bob, would you say that a gradual 15 degree swing over the seasons is ok, too? My cellar swings from 55 in the winter to ~70 in the summer!

That shouldn't matter for wines you are keeping for a few years.  If you are laying down wines for your grandkids, that might still be a problem.

Thanks for all the info everyone. Another noobish question about storing wines, can I store anything, or are there really only certain types of wines that are worth storing. My favorite at the moment is GRAND VIN DU CHÂTEAU BERNADOTTE 2003. My LCBO gives it a score of 90. Not sure what the scoring thing is. 

Just because I'm a nerd and such things interest me in a nerdly sort of way, it's actually the expansion of the liquid wine that pushes the cork or causes the bottle to leak. Air is fairly compressible, liquids aren't. The air in the fill space acts as a shock absorber. If there is enough air it can compress and compensate for the expansion in the wine without raising the pressure too much. With very high fills, you lose that effect and the bottle becomes a leaker.

-Al

Al, that's interesting...thanks for "airing" out the details.

Never thought abou that, but it makes sense. Unless the headspace is twice as long (twice the volume), a magnum will generate twice the internal pressure for a given temperature increase. Not sure about the dimensions of a magnum cork, would also affect the friction to pressure ratio.

-Al

Wine storage should keep temperatures constant, shield the wine from bright light, and eliminate movement that can happen in an out-of-balance cooler or converted refrigerator.

Well I am glad I came across this topic. I never knew that wine had to have a room temperature to store. There is so much to learn about wine that I did not even know. All I know is I like to drink it and share it with my wifey. She enjoys wine as well. I am definitely not a hard drinker. So wine is my vice. I don't think it's a bad one. thanks for the info about the storing of wine.