The names of iconic producers carved into wooden cases draw wine lovers in and seeing them in cellars, tasting rooms, wine bars adds a splash of pizazz. Everyone dreams of having them in their possession, but should you store your wine in their wooden cases? Here are a few tips to guide you.
The first piece of advice to give you is to store your wine in a cellar that has the correct conditions: temperature between 10°C and 13°C and humidity between 70%-75%. The second piece of advice is to not store your wines in cardboard packaging as in a humid cellar, these can break down quickly and cause a strong odour (we all know how bad a damp cardboard box can smell). And now let’s move on to our topic of the article, wooden cases.
Generally speaking, the bottle and the wine it contains breathes better if you store it outside of the case, on the shelves or racks in your cellar. However, your wine will be okay in its wooden case for a few months, possibly even a year or two. Just be careful as in a very humid cellar, the composition of the label can be quickly affected. For those of you that like to keep their bottle as close to their original condition as possible, this is something to watch out for.
You’re reluctant to throw out a grand cru case? You have good reason to be! If you one day want to resell your bottles, some buyers – especially professionals – like to buy the wines with their original wooden cases. This is particularly important for Bordeaux premier crus and their equivalents (such as Petrus and Cheval Blanc) as well as iconic Burgundian wine like those from Domaine de la Romanée Conti. A lot of other wine can be resold quite easily without their original case. The best solution which does require space is to remove the bottles from their wooden case but keep the case separately, in the corner of your cellar, for example.
Some cellar fitters offer draws that allow wines to be stored in their cases, presenting the producers name on the outside of the box. If you wish to store your wooden cases in these draws, we advise opening the top of the box to allow the wine to “breathe”.
