Why do we lay a bottle down on its side. Why do we store them this way? Is it to keep the cork from drying?

that is what i thought. someone correct me if i am wrong.

Bottles should be stored on their sides so that the wine is in contact with the cork to keep it moist and airtight. A cork that shrinks can expose the wine to oxygen.

Note that if screwcaps become the norm this will no longer need to be the case. However all the storage currently built is for laying the wine on its side so I'm guessing laying on the side will continue to be done.

Early results from Plumpjack are showing that screwcaps left upright perform better than layed down. Apparently long term contact between the wine and the plastic imparts a noticeable taste. Sounds like a problem to me.

I've got all my Scovell Plumpjack standing up. Haven't opened one yet.

Laying down bottles is a lost art.

Some recent studies show no benefit to laying bottles down on their sides. The most recent study however had only up to 5 years follow up iirc. I posted a link to this here over 1 year ago, as it was in an agriculture journal I believe from Spain or maybe Australia, but cannot now recall the source.

Keeping bottles on their sides may have value (or may not) only at long and especially very long intervals. But the value may be in keping the cork from fragmenting, but not from allowing gas from filtering in. Keeping oxygen out makes no scientific sense, since the O2 molecule or N2 for that matter should traverses cork pores slowly over time; further there is oxygen already in the bottle and an equilibrium whereby the wine establishes a partial pressure within a liquid over time.This is unlikely to change since air is a fixed %oxygen in any position.

boardO, LOL

DrT,

SWOOSH!
.... ....

Bressler, I was wondering if the plastic seal would impart any taste if in constant contact with the wine. The big problem is that folks who buy wine to age store if horizontally. The only way I could store a bottle standing up is if I have a case of it and I might even store this sideways if there are some corked bottles in the case. (not to mention that I don't have room to store case boxes of wine in my current storage area easily

Not on me, Board_O.

I don't think the plastic actually has to remain in constant contact with the wine to impart any of its characteristics.If it will alter the wine on its side, I imagine it would also do so standing vertically, though probably at a somewhat slower pace. The vapor in the airspace would likely have some effect on the plastic, assuming that the plastic will also degrade when in direct contact with the wine.

As a side note, I'll be building my new cellar soon. The gentleman that will be building the cellar builds custom racking. The nice thing about his racking is it is fully adjustable height wise. As more producers start shipping wine with screw caps I'll be able to adjust the height of individual shelves to accomodate standing bottles up. I considered this mandatory, IMO.

What about lying bottles up-side down? I have to put some of my cases upside down in the locker to max. my space

The only problem I can see with the upside down method is that all the sediment will be in the neck of the bottle so when you pour you are pretty much gauranteed of getting some sediment in the wine.

I don't see the sediment being a problem if you stand the wines up at least a few days in advance. You can even give them a little rocking motion to insure all the sediment will settle to the bottom. I have a selection of wines in my cellar standing up so I can grab an older bottle without worrying about sediment.

i've started to do the same thing board-o. not that any of my suff is old but some young ones are starting to through sediment so i know longer take any chances. don't worry there isn't any 00 bdx that is standing up. they are all resting quite peacefully

WHEW!

DrT, I remember the article. I spent a long time to read it and my conclusion at the time was that the period of study was not very long and their extrapolation was problematic at best.

Interesting comments on Plumpjack. I'm not familiar with what type of plastic they use, but I would hope that they researched it well. We put millions of dollars of products in plastics, but our products don't have the acidity of wine.