How to Protect Your Valuable Wine Collection: 5 Tips
Some of us have a wine collection big enough that it can fit on a single fridge shelf or perhaps on a countertop. Others, however, have collections that are quite a bit larger and need reliable and secure storage.
When you’re talking $500 vintages (or even more expensive!) and priceless bottles old enough they could be your grandparents, the last place you want to keep them is somewhere they can be spoilt, knocked over, or stolen.
Wine racks are essential for protecting valuable wine collections, both for private collectors and restaurateurs. Not only is a good wine rack a sort of insurance against common mishaps such as knocking over bottles, but it’s also a good reason to organise your wine collection and keep it somewhere safe. Here are a few helpful tips on how to protect your valuable wine collection:
Store Wine at the Correct Temperature
Wine can be quite sensitive to temperature and humidity, both of which are essential for wine storage. There’s a reason why historically and even today oenophiles and sommeliers would store and retrieve bottles from a dark cellar - it would keep the bottles reasonably cool and not too exposed to moisture.
Generally, most wines should be kept at 13°C to 15°C, so that rules out keeping them anywhere too close to the baking hot sun we often get and in a room where you can control the heat to be reasonably consistent. UV exposure can lead to spoilage, so try to limit sunlight whenever possible.
As for moisture, generally, you want wine to be kept at around 50% to 80%. A humidity-controlled at around 75% tends to be best for keeping corks reasonably moist.
Purchase Insurance for High-Value Vintages
High-value food items can be a target for burglary and theft. Indeed, French and Italian restaurants in recent years have had to hire private armed security to protect valuable black and white truffles used in gourmet cuisine.
While you may not need your own private army, your wine collection should at least be insured or considered as part of your insurance policy. Appraisals of high-value bottles may be necessary first.
One practical insurance you can buy is a backup generator for temperature and moisture control, in the event of a power outage.
Use Only High-Quality Wine Racks
Perhaps the single biggest investment you can make towards securing your valuable wine collection is to purchase a high-quality wine rack from a reputable supplier such as Wine Rack Store.
Our wine racks are manufactured using high-quality materials such as New Zealand Premium Pine, and we offer beautiful wood species and finishes that blend elegance with rugged utility and strength to hold your entire wall collection.
You can rest assured that your wine bottles stored on our wine racks will be held securely. We offer everything from display racks for diagonally holding 6-8 bottles up to massive cellar sets capable of storing 2,800 bottles, display cabinets, wall pegs and racks, and even custom wine racks for your personal or business needs.
Keep an Inventory of Your Wine
As a private collector, you ought to have a detailed inventory of your wine collection for your own organisation. You can make this task more accurate with written lists or with spreadsheet software, for example, even including digital photos of individual bottles, for example.
Restaurateurs should certainly be keeping an accurate and up-to-date inventory. Organised wall and cellar racks make it easy to accomplish this, but manual inventorying is required.
Purchase Wine Racks from Reputable Suppliers
As you’ve probably ascertained by now, a high-quality wine rack is one of the best investments you can make for your personal or restaurant wine collection. Rather than chance it with (often) cheap products from competitors, try our wine racks instead and get top quality.
Wine Rack Store
Buy your wine racks at Wine Rack Store.