Do Wine Bottles Actually Need To Be Rotated In Long-Term Storage?

If you are over the age of 21, odds are that you have, at some point in time, received a bottle of wine as a gift. Around the holidays, gifted wine can pile up faster than one can drink it, resulting in the beginnings of a long-term wine collection. Storing wine over time requires several precautions to keep it at its very best. However, while you may have heard that turning wine bottles is one of these requirements, this is not at all necessary to protect the quality and condition of your wine.

The idea of rotating wine bottles while they are being stored has to do with the idea of sediment. Sediment forms in wine for many reasons, but the most common cause of sediment as wine ages is the formation of tartaric acid crystals over time. Some people believe that by spinning the bottles on occasion, you will prevent sediment from forming. What this is really doing, however, is simply mixing the sediment into the wine so that it is less noticeable, rather than preventing or eliminating it in any way.

So, if rotating your wine bottles won't keep them in tip-top shape, what should you be doing to store your wine correctly? The primary concerns to worry about are temperature and humidity. Be sure to keep your wines at a moderate temperature ranging from 45 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit and at a higher humidity ranging from 60% to 80%. It is also best to store the bottles horizontally. These steps, along with our other tips for storing wine, will help prevent the wine from oxidizing too quickly and keep the cork from drying out.

If you aren't a fan of sediment and find yourself discouraged by the myth-busting of this technique, don't worry. There are several ways to deal with or remove sediment upon opening a bottle of wine to enjoy. One way is by decanting the wine. You can also rid wine of sediment by filtering it using a material like cheesecloth.