Sunday, October 21, 2012

Protecting Your Wine Collection


Protecting Your Wine Collection
It can take a lifetime to build a collection of fine wines. For some collectors, the years of searching the world's wineries for the finest vintages is not simply a hobby, it is a passion
Beyond insuring your investment, serious wine collectors understand the need to protect their collections from the harmful effects of light and vibration, and shifts in humidity and temperature.
So whether you already have a cool, low humidity basement, choose to build a cellar, invest in a self-contained temperature-controlled unit or rent storage space for your collection, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Temperature
  • Not everyone agrees on this but maintaining a fairly constant temperature around 55F is a safe bet
  • Minor fluctuations in temperature will not have an effect
  • Prolonged, dramatic changes in temperature are undesirable – above 70F – may damage the wine's freshness and subtleties and rob it of its fruitiness and flavor; lower than 45F may cause the wine to freeze, expand and push out the bottle's cork.

Humidity
  • Less than 80% with a low of 60% is best
  • High humidity will promote development of mold. Mold may cause damage to labels, possibly reducing their market value. Mold confined to the cork/lip area should not impact the wine quality.
  • Low humidity will result in dry corks and air seepage that will damage the wine; severe dryness may cause the empty space in the neck of the bottle to increase (ullage)

Light
  • Low light conditions are preferred; dark is best
  • Some collectors are concerned about the effects of fluorescent light, but there is no evidence to indicate that this is an issue.

Vibration
  • Storage area should be vibration free to prevent sediment from being disturbed.





    http://www.chubb.com/international/canada/cpi/chubb4355.html


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