Where Are You Keeping Your Wine This Fall and Winter?

Come Over October and Storing Your Bottles at Home

I had a conversation the other day with someone who was telling me that she and her husband had purchased several bottles of wine from a recent trip. They loved what they tasted and since it was a road trip, they figured, why not stock up? We can revisit these wines at home and enjoy the memory of our trip and all the fun we had and all the great wines we tasted and fun people we met.

Sounds familiar, right? Wine brings out the best in people. (Most of the time anyway). And, like I’ve said before, wine is not made in ugly places. Those road trips or bucket list trips to our favorite wine region can yield surprises and new discoveries. It’s natural to want to keep them around to help us savor the memory for as long as possible. Life is meant for enjoyment. That is why God gave us vineyards. And wine makers. So let’s enjoy what we have for as long as possible and share it with others.

When my friend returned, the instinct was of course to “save” a few bottles for that special occasion, that special event, dinner, invitation, etc. But she and her husband are both in the wine business. New wines came along. You know, the “bright shiny object” syndrome. Invitations to other wine events, wine industry parties, and private events and before they knew it, their closet was overflowing with bottles they couldn’t possibly drink.

Eventually, she went to the back of the closed door and found her special treasure procured during that road trip. They gave it a go and discovered, to their dismay, that wine was in decline already. “So soon? It wasn’t that long ago that we went on that trip!” Well, I said, “Let me ask you. How did you store it? Where did you keep it?”   She looked a little caught and surprised and admitted some were in the back of the closet, a few in the kitchen, and a couple more upstairs in a spare bedroom.

We’ve all done it. We get so excited about the great deal we scored and bringing it home we forget that proper storage is the most important thing we can do for our investment. It simply won’t last sitting in your home unless you keep your entire living space at around 55 degrees all year long and never have any movement in the rooms or closest you have it all stashed.

She also told me that this held her back while studying for her WSET because she was hesitant to buy more wines from different regions that she needed to taste in order to pass her exam.

So in honor of Come Over October, let’ let go of the false idea that we can’t have a wine cooler specifically for our needs, whether we rent, own, are in a temporary living space or have several permanent residences. Grand Cru Wine Coolers offers something for every level of wine collector, from the simplest kitchen cooler to keep a few bottles at the ready, to 200+ bottles to several thousand in a wine room or wine cellar.

Come on over this October and enjoy a few bottles with friends.