Priest Ranch Cellar Spring Cleaning
With spring upon us, it’s the perfect excuse to take a little time and organize your wine collection. We’ve put together five of our top recommendations to ensure your wine storage is set up for success for the rest of the year!
1. Take an Inventory
First and foremost, start by taking inventory of all of your wines. It’s possible there’s a wine buried away that you forgot you had, or one that’s at its peak drinkability that you don’t want to miss. In taking inventory you can plan for a lunch or dinner with loved ones, a casual night in, or maybe set a few bottles aside for a blind tasting!
2. Check for Peak Drinkability
As a follow-up to step 1, no one wants to waste a single drop of wine, let alone a whole bottle! If you’re unsure how to determine if a wine is at its peak, CellarTracker has a handy ‘drinkability’ report that can help you keep an eye on your bottles. The fun part of this is when you find a stray that’s ready to be enjoyed, you have a reason to pop it open!
3. Store by Varietal
Whether your wine collection is just getting started or you’ve been at it for a while, the simplest way of storing your wine is to re-organize by the type of wine - Rosé, white, red, and sparkling. If you’ve graduated to a rack with several rows, or have a diverse set of varietals to organize, you might want to get a little more specific with your approach.
After dedicating one shelf or row each for Rosé, whites, reds, and sparkling, group the same varietals together so wines like Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc aren’t mixed. This way, they’re not only easier to find but if you’re looking for a wine to pair with a specific meal, it’ll make your search that much faster.
4. Get Creative
If you have fewer bottles or certain wines you’d like to put on display, you can get creative with the way you present them, too. Another fun option to organize wines with a creative flair, especially if the wines are visible to guests, is to place tags on the neck of each bottle. You can put the varietal, the vintage, and even the name of the winery on the tags to help you find a specific bottle without disturbing any of the bottles at rest. When you’re looking for the perfect food pairing, you’ll know exactly where to find the wine you need.
5. Temperature
One of the most important things you can do for your wine (especially going into hotter months) is keeping it stored at a temperature that’s not too warm or too cold. The ideal range is between 45° F and 65° F, because temperatures higher than 70° F will age wine more quickly. Temperatures even hotter than that may result in “cooked” wine, which causes undesirable flavors and aromas. If you don’t have a temperature-controlled case or wine fridge, you may need to move your wine to a cooler area during the warmer months.
With a quick sweep-away of stray dust from your racks, your spring cleaning is complete. Show us your cellar by tagging us on Facebook and Instagram. Happy springtime sipping!