No matter how you prefer your wines, one can say without a doubt that this is one of the more exciting times in wine history. This is due to many factors. The Internet gives us so much more of a worldwide round table to discuss wine. International markets and globalization are erasing the old barriers to import and export of wine; you can go to your corner store and buy five bottles from five different countries today. The New World wineries are coming into their own, meeting the challenge of displacing the Old World from the throne of wine-producing.

For purposes of definition, let’s get it straight that when we say “Old World”, we’re talking about Europe, at least as far as wine-making countries go. And when we say “New World”, we’re talking about almost everywhere else, but notably the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and even South Africa.

You can see the sharp divide between the two worlds. Old World wines tend to be classified by terroir – that is, the region where they’re produced. New World wines tend to be classified by their breed of grape. Some New World wineries are starting to try to take the mantle in this regard, promoting themselves as regions just as relevant to the wine world as the Old World. So Napa Valley is almost a household name in the United States, while Australians may find their wine proudly labeled “Barossa Valley” and New Zealand boasts the prestige of their Marlborough region.

“Terroir” means more than a dot on the map, however. It also stands for the conditions of the winery itself – the soil, the climate, the environment, and even the local ecosystem. Wine, more than any other beverage, is influenced by many more things than the kind of grape; you can plant the same grapes in clay soil, gravel soil, and sand and cultivate them the same way and make wine the same way but still end up with three different tasting wines. Tiny variations, like what kind of pollen spores are in the air, or whether you got 12 inches of rain in May or 10, or whether temperatures were 3 degrees hotter over the summer, can make a noticeable difference in the taste.

Amongst wine enthusiasts, there is much disagreement and debate about whether New World wines can hold their own against the Old World. The majority consensus is that Old World is still holding the reigns, while the New World is trying to catch up. Certainly, the New World has produced some very good wines, but the Old World of Europe and the proud lions of wine-making, such as France, Italy, and Spain, simply have loads more experience. The bottles that win all the medals at world-class competitions still bear European labels, and will for quite some time.

But for the consumer-level market, it’s a different story. The United States and Australia have pushed their way into the world market, sometimes by cutting the price to make their bottles more attractive to retailers. It is this practice of producing cheap, industrial wine and competing for price that led to the epithet “plonk”. If you want to make a New Zealand or South African wine-fancier mad, drop the word “plonk”. It isn’t all plonk, of course, and even an Old World winery or two has begun to fight back with its own plonkish offerings, but the fact remains that the Old World simply loves wine too much to dirty their hands with making wine a cheap, uncouth business.

On that note, we will just leave it at this: the New World will have to strive harder to prove itself in the global wine arena. But there is no doubt that they will. The New World will also have to get a lot more experience under its belt before the global market takes its wines seriously. But that is almost guaranteed to happen over time. In the meantime, we can all look forward to a more diverse market, with many intriguing developments still ahead.

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A well made wine bottle refrigerator will help the collector overcome the four enemies of wine: temperature, light, humidity, and vibration. Most home environments are not suitable for the storage of fine wines. Let’s review each of these factors in more detail.

Temperature

The optimal temperature for storage depends on the type of wine:

Red – Store between 55 to 60 degrees F
White – Store between 49 to 56 degrees F
Rose – Store between 49 to 51 degrees F
Champagne – Store between 53 to 59 degrees F

Bottles kept at higher temperatures will age too fast, causing a lack of freshness and subtlety. Lower temperatures paralyze wine, retarding its natural development.

A quality wine bottle refrigerator will not only keep your bottles at the proper temperature, they will also maintain a constant temperature within the unit.

Light

Darkness is ideal for a cellar. Exposure to ultraviolet light will prematurely age and damage wine. This is a primary reason why wine is traditionally bottled in colored glass. Thus it is prudent to store your collection away from the potentially damaging effects of such light sources.

Quality cellars will have U.V. protected glass doors to help create an ideal environment in which to store wine.

Humidity

Maintaining proper humidity is essential in preventing the corks from drying out. This is also achieved by laying the bottles on their sides, so that the wine is in constant contact with the cork. A cork that is kept moist does not lose its shape, thus maintaining a good seal. Prolonged exposure to oxygen will spoil a good wine.

A well functioning wine bottle refrigerator will have natural ventilation that allows for condensation to form on the walls of the unit, which helps produce the correct humidity for preservation of the collection. Proper air circulation and filtering is needed to create the right environment free from mold and odor.

Vibration

Moving bottles too often is harmful to good wine preservation. Wine needs to sleep, and frequent disturbance will agitate it. Vibration interferes with the biochemical process of maturation and is often fatal to the best wines. Therefore, the best wine cabinets are designed to house the greatest possible number of bottles of all sizes, and built to keep harmful vibrations to a minimum. Unlike conventional refrigerators, wine bottle cellars have no or few moving parts.

By reading this you are obviously care about your wine! Wouldn’t it be great to be able to store your wine in your own cellar? Where you know your valuable collection will be protected from the four enemies of wine. Remember, a wine cellar doesn’t have to be an expensive separate room; it could be a refrigerated wine cabinet that is sized to your needs and budget.

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