Wine is perhaps one of the most celebrated of all alcoholic drinks in the entire history of mankind, with the earliest archaeological evidence of it being consumed as a part of culture and tradition dating back to 6000 BC.
In fact, wine’s influence is so great that those who love wine and follow strict traditions related to its appreciation and consumption are known to be followers of a discipline called Oenophilia. In simple terms, oenophiles are people who enjoy or collect wine, with a focus on wine from specific regions or specific types of wine. While some people consider Oenophilia a hobby, others are professionals such as wine merchants or sommeliers who taste or grade wines to make a living.
If you are a bit of a wine collector yourself, here are some great tips that can help you organize your wine collection more effectively. Like most wine collectors, you are likely to already own a wine refrigerator dual zone to store all your precious wine, which is definitely very useful in making sure your wine is stored at the ideal temperature to maintain its taste. But there’s a lot more than you can do to improve how you store your wine:
1.Create Segments for Each Type
There are 5 basic wine types that are popularly known by wine enthusiasts and collectors around the globe, which can be an easy starting point for organizing your wine:
- Dessert or Sweet Wine
Mostly served as an aperitif before or after a meal in the UK, this wine goes really well with different kinds of dessert. On the contrary, in the US a dessert wine is considered as any type of wine that has over 14% alcohol in its volume, which means it is taxed more heavily. Recommended wine glasses for such wines are crystal glasses that include the likes of LUCARIS or simple Liqueur glass.
- Red Wine
A glass of red wine comes together after combining the grape pip, seed, and skin, which are fermented at higher temperatures in order to achieve its color. For food pairing, red wine goes well with grilled vegetables as well as white meat such as chicken. Considered a delicacy around the world, the recommended wine glass for this type of wine includes Bordeaux and Burgundy which both support a broad bowl with the latter having a bigger bowl in comparison.
- Rose Wine
With a fermentation time of around 12-36 hours, rose wine comes with a pink rose color derived from red or black grapes. Another way of producing it is to blend both red and white wine together. Rose wine is considered the oldest type of wine. It goes well with a variety of dishes with light flavors such as fish, fruit, and even poultry. For younger rose wines, long stem glasses with flared lips are ideal whereas short bowls that are round at the bottom are a good choice for matured rose wines.
- Sparkling Wine
Well, there was always going to be a fan following for wine that is infused with carbon dioxide, considering just how much we love fizzy drinks. Sparkling wine is hence the fizziest of them all. When it comes to food pairing, this type of wine goes well with bread, cheese, fish, and salad. Ideal wine glasses for serving sparkling wine are those that are slender in their appearance and flute shaped.
- White Wine
Finally, white wines are those that are fermented without skin contact and their color can vary from straw-yellow to yellow-gold at the extremes of the spectrum, with some emitting yellow-green coloring. As far as food pairing goes, creamy soft cheese, fish, meat, salads, seafood, and white bread are a good choice. The best glasses for serving white wine are those that are on the smaller side with tinnier bowls.
2. Get Their Prime Dates Right
If you are not aware of the ‘drinking window’ concept, then let us educate you about the wine’s prime times. This is the time period when the wine reaches its full maturity and is considered to be ideal for drinking. If you have it any time later or earlier, and the wine will not taste the same. It is all a matter of opening the bottle now or waiting for its aroma to deepen to a point where it offers you an experience that you could have never thought possible.
However, you need to be clear on one thing: every wine in the world is considered to be ideal for consumption within a year or two after its release. However, for oenophiles, the exact dates matter a lot and hence it is vital that wine merchants provide information about their product’s ‘drinking window’. This is known as their prime time.
Getting the prime dates right can be extremely tricky though and you might want to become a wine expert yourself before you go about trying this method of organizing your wines. To educate yourself further, we recommend you to read Dr. Peter Salamone’s guide to start your learning process.
The Bottom Line
We hope this post was able to offer you some great insights as to how you can go about organizing your wine collection. For those who have a big collection of wine, it is essential to keep it organized. When the time comes to find the right wine for a romantic dinner for two or for an unplanned get-together with friends, you wouldn’t want to be hunting around and getting lost in your cellar. The smart organization ensures you find the bottle you need within a few minutes. So, start organizing your wine collection today and your life is bound to get a whole lot easier!
