Question for the Vintner

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gillumhouse

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In applying for my wine license, I am required to do a floor plan of the house AND of where the wine will be stored. I do not expect to have more than 2 cases at a time - max. What type area (as in where the heck) should I store it for the best integrity of the wine?
IF i have a solid panel (to keep sun off) on a wine rack that would be by a window (in the dining room), would that work? This house is cool in summer (usually at least 10 degrees cooler than outside) and downright COLD in winter - we keep thermostat at about 62 during the day and layer unless guests in-house and 55 at night.
 
Cooler is better than warmer, but lots of temp change isn't good either.
 
On their sides is better than upright. (It keeps the corks moist.)
=)
Kk.
 
I know it has to be with the bottles on their sides. I am thinking of removing the ficus from in the window and putting a wine rack next to the tea hutch but that would open it to the rays of the sun. BUT if I put a solid panel on the window side to intercept the rays of the sun..... That is my question. Would it work IF it would pass the ABCA scrutiny? I am also looking for suggestions from the expert on alternate places to consider. I do have room in the furnace room under the house if that would be better, but that would not be as accessible because I would have to go outside, around the house, down the stairs, and unpadlock the door. Guests would never ever be able to go there to see the wares.
 
I know it has to be with the bottles on their sides. I am thinking of removing the ficus from in the window and putting a wine rack next to the tea hutch but that would open it to the rays of the sun. BUT if I put a solid panel on the window side to intercept the rays of the sun..... That is my question. Would it work IF it would pass the ABCA scrutiny? I am also looking for suggestions from the expert on alternate places to consider. I do have room in the furnace room under the house if that would be better, but that would not be as accessible because I would have to go outside, around the house, down the stairs, and unpadlock the door. Guests would never ever be able to go there to see the wares..
I think if it gets warm in that spot you're going to have trouble. You may be avoiding direct sunlight hitting the bottles, but it could still be toasty. Having a display of the wines definitely will increase sales, but you may be able to get away with a wine list. AND, once you have those empties you can use those for the 'display'.
So, first order of business is to invite your friends over for a wine tasting and get those bottles emptied out!
 
I know it has to be with the bottles on their sides. I am thinking of removing the ficus from in the window and putting a wine rack next to the tea hutch but that would open it to the rays of the sun. BUT if I put a solid panel on the window side to intercept the rays of the sun..... That is my question. Would it work IF it would pass the ABCA scrutiny? I am also looking for suggestions from the expert on alternate places to consider. I do have room in the furnace room under the house if that would be better, but that would not be as accessible because I would have to go outside, around the house, down the stairs, and unpadlock the door. Guests would never ever be able to go there to see the wares..
I think if it gets warm in that spot you're going to have trouble. You may be avoiding direct sunlight hitting the bottles, but it could still be toasty. Having a display of the wines definitely will increase sales, but you may be able to get away with a wine list. AND, once you have those empties you can use those for the 'display'.
So, first order of business is to invite your friends over for a wine tasting and get those bottles emptied out!
.
That will be the third order - first is deciding where to store it, second is getting the license, and THEN bring on the wine!!!
 
We keep our wine in the basement where the temp is cool and consistant. You do need to store it on its side if you are going to age it, but you'll be using it so you don't absolutely have to store it on its side.
Riki
 
If you have a basement, that is the best place. Storage on the side (as Riki said) is only needed for aging wine and only if it has real corks. Many now have synthetic corks and more are going to screw caps as it becomes clearer that screw tops outlast corks in terms of integrity..
Keeping it out of the sun is adviseable.
 
Thank you all. I think the on its side storage where guests will see it is a must - EVERYONE KNOWS fine wine must be stored on its side whether it is true or not. We all know perception is everything and until Riki & Swirt just said it, I did not know differently either.
Still gathering info re my State rules.
 
Thank you all. I think the on its side storage where guests will see it is a must - EVERYONE KNOWS fine wine must be stored on its side whether it is true or not. We all know perception is everything and until Riki & Swirt just said it, I did not know differently either.
Still gathering info re my State rules..
Here in Virginia that does not matter as the wine must be locked up. So the guests don't see it.
Riki
 
Thank you all. I think the on its side storage where guests will see it is a must - EVERYONE KNOWS fine wine must be stored on its side whether it is true or not. We all know perception is everything and until Riki & Swirt just said it, I did not know differently either.
Still gathering info re my State rules..
The most important thing is consistency of temperature appropriate to the type of wine. I would think that storage in front of a window would still have some heat issues. A lot of folks make the mistake also of storing wines above their fridge which of course gets hot. Maybe down the road, you can invest in a small wine fridge for your purposes as they don't take up much room and some models can be locked.
You may find that your rules also require that you keep your wine secure, so that guests can't just serve themselves & imbibe to their delight
wink_smile.gif
As you know some people will just help themselves to whatever seems to be available to them. Our personal wine fridge is locked, as is our liquor cabinet.
 
Thank you all. I think the on its side storage where guests will see it is a must - EVERYONE KNOWS fine wine must be stored on its side whether it is true or not. We all know perception is everything and until Riki & Swirt just said it, I did not know differently either.
Still gathering info re my State rules..
gillumhouse said:
Thank you all. I think the on its side storage where guests will see it is a must - EVERYONE KNOWS fine wine must be stored on its side whether it is true or not. We all know perception is everything and until Riki & Swirt just said it, I did not know differently either.
Still gathering info re my State rules.
We used to have 2 wine stores here in town (and wine is also available at the grocery store). Each of them had storage for the bottles to be laying on their sides, with the one bottle standing upright so you could see what was in that bin. However, one of the stores used to keep most of the wine upright. All of the wines in the grocery store are standing upright.
Funny, tho, that at one wine tasting one of the store owners was making a BIG point about NOT standing bottles upright and how he wouldn't buy wine from a place that did. Obvious who he was talking about. And it's the OTHER store that is still in business...
It is a perception, yes. And a lot depends on where people buy their wine to start with. For those of us who see it displayed upright all the time, no biggie. Also, I know I am buying a $10 bottle of wine, not a $100 bottle so I'm less mindful of the 'rules'.
Find out what the rules are where you live about returning bad wine to the distributor. We had a restaurant here that got raves from my guests when they saw what happened at another table...diner ordered a bottle of wine and then sent it back, saying it was 'corked'. Second bottle, same thing, except this time the owner came out to handle the problem. The owner said, 'Please choose a different wine, may I suggest this one, on the house. This entire case is going back to the distributor in the morning, I apologize for this happening.'
What impressed my guests was that not a single restaurant employee batted an eye at taking the bottle back, no one sampled the wine to verify, they just did it. Not that you're going to have this happen, but you should know the rules about returns of bad wine.
 
Thank you all. I think the on its side storage where guests will see it is a must - EVERYONE KNOWS fine wine must be stored on its side whether it is true or not. We all know perception is everything and until Riki & Swirt just said it, I did not know differently either.
Still gathering info re my State rules..
gillumhouse said:
Thank you all. I think the on its side storage where guests will see it is a must - EVERYONE KNOWS fine wine must be stored on its side whether it is true or not. We all know perception is everything and until Riki & Swirt just said it, I did not know differently either.
Still gathering info re my State rules.
We used to have 2 wine stores here in town (and wine is also available at the grocery store). Each of them had storage for the bottles to be laying on their sides, with the one bottle standing upright so you could see what was in that bin. However, one of the stores used to keep most of the wine upright. All of the wines in the grocery store are standing upright.
Funny, tho, that at one wine tasting one of the store owners was making a BIG point about NOT standing bottles upright and how he wouldn't buy wine from a place that did. Obvious who he was talking about. And it's the OTHER store that is still in business...
It is a perception, yes. And a lot depends on where people buy their wine to start with. For those of us who see it displayed upright all the time, no biggie. Also, I know I am buying a $10 bottle of wine, not a $100 bottle so I'm less mindful of the 'rules'.
Find out what the rules are where you live about returning bad wine to the distributor. We had a restaurant here that got raves from my guests when they saw what happened at another table...diner ordered a bottle of wine and then sent it back, saying it was 'corked'. Second bottle, same thing, except this time the owner came out to handle the problem. The owner said, 'Please choose a different wine, may I suggest this one, on the house. This entire case is going back to the distributor in the morning, I apologize for this happening.'
What impressed my guests was that not a single restaurant employee batted an eye at taking the bottle back, no one sampled the wine to verify, they just did it. Not that you're going to have this happen, but you should know the rules about returns of bad wine.
.
The grocery store probably stores it upright because of space and their selections probably turn over quickly enough that it's not an issue, even if the bottles have corks. Long time proper storage is more important. Just my 2 cents from a former N CA inhabitant/wine lover....
 
You might just put one or two bottles of each variety on display in an obvious location with your case lots in the coolest place in the house and refill your display rack as they are consumed.
 
We keep our wine in the basement where the temp is cool and consistant. You do need to store it on its side if you are going to age it, but you'll be using it so you don't absolutely have to store it on its side.
Riki.
egoodell said:
We keep our wine in the basement where the temp is cool and consistant. You do need to store it on its side if you are going to age it, but you'll be using it so you don't absolutely have to store it on its side.
Riki
So just for personal use I can store it upright? What about if I won't be using it for a year or so??
 
We keep our wine in the basement where the temp is cool and consistant. You do need to store it on its side if you are going to age it, but you'll be using it so you don't absolutely have to store it on its side.
Riki.
egoodell said:
We keep our wine in the basement where the temp is cool and consistant. You do need to store it on its side if you are going to age it, but you'll be using it so you don't absolutely have to store it on its side.
Riki
So just for personal use I can store it upright? What about if I won't be using it for a year or so??
.
Wines that you will be storing for a year or so should be on their side keeping the cork wet so as to avoid oxygen getting in. Wines that you know you'll be drinking in a month or so you can store upright until you use it if you don't have space.
Just don't leave it in the window where sunlight/heat will get to it, or somewhere where the temperature flucuates. We just keep ours in the original case in the basement for the B&B.
Riki
 
We keep our wine in the basement where the temp is cool and consistant. You do need to store it on its side if you are going to age it, but you'll be using it so you don't absolutely have to store it on its side.
Riki.
egoodell said:
We keep our wine in the basement where the temp is cool and consistant. You do need to store it on its side if you are going to age it, but you'll be using it so you don't absolutely have to store it on its side.
Riki
So just for personal use I can store it upright? What about if I won't be using it for a year or so??
.
Wines that you will be storing for a year or so should be on their side keeping the cork wet so as to avoid oxygen getting in. Wines that you know you'll be drinking in a month or so you can store upright until you use it if you don't have space.
Just don't leave it in the window where sunlight/heat will get to it, or somewhere where the temperature flucuates. We just keep ours in the original case in the basement for the B&B.
Riki
.
I'm not a big wine drinker if I'm just at home, so I have to wait for someone to come over before I can open a bottle so it doesn't go bad. But I love to buy wine! I got excited when I thought maybe I could store my wine upright, but I guess I will have to keep it on it's side. Thanks!
 
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