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One of the most popular questions wine drinkers ask when it comes to wine storage is if you can keep wine at room temperature. I mean simply putting wine on a wine rack and leaving it at room temperature is the easy thing to do. But this is a topic we need to dig into a little further. After all, if wine is something you enjoy, you may as well learn how to properly store it to help it age to its finest.
Can you store wine at room temperature and for how long? Wine can be stored at room temperature for years without damaging the wine as long as other storage factors are taken into consideration. The temperature should remain consistent, the wines should have limited light exposure, there should be humidity in the air, and no vibrations.
Whites, including sparkling wines, should be chilled prior to serving. Fortified wines such as port can also be stored this way and will stand up to these conditions longer, as they tend to be sturdier. That said, warmer temperatures do cause wines to age more quickly, and cooler conditions (around 55° F) are ideal for serious collecting.
While storing wine in a proper wine cellar or wine refrigerator would be the best scenario, you don’t need to invest in these expensive storage mediums to have great-tasting wine. Let’s dig in further.
TIP: If you want to check out the best refrigerator for wine storage, I recommend trying out the Avation (18 bottles) compressor refrigerator with Wi-fi smart app control cooling system. You can find this refrigerator by clicking here (Amazon link).
Wine Store at Room Temperature
Red Wine
Red wine can certainly be stored at room temperature as long as the room doesn’t get too hot during the daytime in the summer and you keep the bottles out of direct light.
For optimum results, red wine is best stored around 55° F, in darkness, and under low humidity conditions with the bottles laying on their sides to allow the cork to remain moist.
By storing red wine at room temperature and also not in a constantly dark room under controlled humidity settings, your wine won’t be nearly as robust and rich though. Countless people simply store red wine in wine racks at room temperature and they enjoy it.
Most people don’t own expensive wine cellars or wine coolers to properly store wine. While those things help wine long-term, they are not required at all.
White Wine
White wine generally is ideally stored at slightly cooler temperatures than red wine but you can store white wine very easily at room temperature. A great temperature range for both red and white wine is about 55° F so, despite popular belief, you don’t need to store reds and whites separately.
Just like red wine, white wine is ideally stored inside a climate-controlled wine cellar or wine refrigerator to age the wine properly. Too many variables are out of your control when you store wine at room temperature that you won’t have to worry about in a wine fridge or cellar.
But I know a lot of people who store white wine without issue for months and years at room temperature and then pop the bottles in the kitchen refrigerator for 40 minutes to chill it before serving.
Champagne
Champagne is famously known for being served chilled after sitting in an ice bath. While it is true that Champagne should be chilled before serving, it can be stored at the same air temperatures as other wines with ease.
Just make sure you keep the bottles out of direct light, preferably around 70% humidity, and as close to 60-65° F as you can achieve in your home without spending a fortune on AC.
Room temperature is loosely considered to be around 70° F which is a tad too warm for ideal Champagne long-term storage but it isn’t horrible either. I think as long as you chill your Champagne before serving a little longer, you will be in decent shape storing it at room temperature.
Before Opening
Before opening the bottle, wine can be stored at room temperature (either under a screw cap or cork) for several months. Keep in mind, this is not ideal for long-term storage and may speed up the aging of the wine. However, it will not damage the wine. Storing the bottle horizontally in a dark spot is best.
Now it is always best to store wine under ideal conditions in a wine refrigerator or wine cellar for optimum aging of the wine.
Wine will still age under less-than-ideal conditions, but it can never achieve its true potential and richness while being stored in the open air in a kitchen or living room.
If you can’t afford or don’t have space for a true wine cellar, a nice wine cooler refrigerator can be a great option that will cost a small fraction of what you’d spend on a cellar and give you even more control over the climate settings of your wine.
After Opening
After opening a bottle, properly sealing the bottle to keep out oxygen is more important than storage temperature. While storing the open bottle in the refrigerator may help extend its life span by a day or two, room-temperature storage is okay, especially for red wines.
Many people prefer to simply put these bottles of wine in the refrigerator to keep them cool but I feel this is unneeded. As long as you put a good wine stopper on the bottle, you should be plenty fine drinking the wine a few days later.
That said, what refrigeration does offer opened wine is a slowing of oxidation that occurs when you pop the cork. As soon as outside oxygen is exposed to your wine, it starts oxidizing which can quickly degrade your wine.
By placing your opened bottles in a cool refrigerator, the oxidation process will be slowed down perhaps giving you an extra couple of days per bottle to enjoy it. Refrigeration won’t work miracles but it can help some.
TIP: A ton of people believe room temperature is the ideal serving temperature but that needs correction. Check out the complete guide on serving red wine in this article and this compelete list wines that should be served at room temperature in this article.
How long does opened wine last at room temperature?
Properly sealed up, an open bottle can last for a few days after opening. Higher quality wines also tend to last a bit longer after opening because they have more concentration and structure, to begin with, so those characteristics can stay longer once open.
Rather than reusing the cork, a silicone stopper that prevents oxygen from entering the open bottle is the best bet for protecting the wine within.
Oxygen is wine’s enemy once a bottle is open, and a porous cork allows oxygen to flow into the bottle. An airtight stopper will allow you to enjoy your bottle longer after opening (avoid vacuum seal systems that also suck out the beautiful aromatics in the wine).
Also, reds will last longer at room temperature once open – and you’ll want to be serving whites chilled anyway. Finally, this comes down to a matter of personal taste – do you still enjoy the wine? Then pour a glass and cheers away!
TIP: Most wines go bad once you pop the cork within a day or so. But a Coravin Wine Preservation system (available for a great price on Amazon) can extend the life of your opened wine for weeks or even months. It is awesome. You should check it out to see if it fits your lifestyle.
Aging Wine at Room Temperature
Wine can be aged at room temperature but it is not recommended for serious collections as it can prematurely age the wine. This is less likely if the other conditions are ideal: consistent temperatures, about 70% humidity, no direct sunlight, and no vibrations.
How long will unopened wine last at room temperature?
As with all things wine, there are no hard and fast rules. Storage temperature is directly correlated with how quickly a wine matures. An ideal temperature will help high-quality wines evolve steadily and develop complexity until they reach peak drinkability (this varies from wine to wine).
Room temperature is usually around 70 degrees F. Storing wines at this temperature will not damage the wine, assuming that the temperature remains fairly steady and that the other storage conditions are fairly ideal (not a lot of vibrations, no direct sunlight, and some humidity).
Instead, this will speed up the aging process. Instead of a wine aging slowly for 20 years, it may only age for 5-10 years. If it is for your own personal consumption, this may not be an important factor to you.
However, if the bottle is a collector’s item or part of an investment, premature aging can quickly decrease the aftermarket value.
What about storing what at warmer temperatures?
Scientific studies performed by Pérez-Coello & colleagues (2003) and by Scrimgeour & colleagues (2015) confirm that storing wine in warmer temperatures can negatively impact wine.
I think even more important than temperature consideration is to make sure your wine remains in the proper humidity levels and is stored in as dark of conditions as you can muster.
Now obviously if you store your wine in the kitchen, keeping it constantly dark is not possible. Some light exposure is fine and won’t damage the wine. What you want to be careful of is making sure direct sunlight does not hit the bottles.
Artificial soft lights are fine in moderation but long-term exposure to direct sunlight will alter the wine causing it to age irregularly and also could bleach the label which makes it look less-than-ideal.
Wine will age decently when stored at room temperature (around 70° F) but will never reach its true peak of richness and complexity as it could if stored under ideal storage conditions.
If you want to store wine so it ages gracefully and keeps getting better and better, you should invest in a quality wine refrigerator if you don’t have space and money for a true wine cellar.
TIP: Is it possible to get into aging wine without spending a lot of money, and is it worthwhile to age cheap wine? Check out the main factors and study on aging cheap wine in this article.
After Being Chilled
Wine appreciates consistency. If it has been chilled, it is best to keep it chilled until serving, and then store it chilled after opening. This is especially true for sparkling (it will help maintain the bubbles), whites, and rosés. Again, an airtight stopper will also help protect the opened wine.
By taking wine chilled for some time and then storing it long-term at a different temperature range, you could negatively affect the wine and how it ages. Wine is best stored at a constant steady temperature for the bulk of its aging storage.
Even if these conditions mean the wine is stored slightly too cold or slightly too warm, from what I’ve learned, it is better to keep them at these fewer ideal temperatures than it is to try and correct them later on.
Furthermore, room temperature is a little too warm for wine to be stored properly. Taking wine that was stored at too cold of temperatures and then storing them at slightly too warm temperatures, cannot be good for the wine.
If the wine is being chilled, unless you don’t have a choice and are running out of refrigerator space, my advice would be to keep it there until you are ready to pop the cork.
Recommendation box: Everything you need to enjoy your wine as much as possible. All recommended products are personally tested and regularly used by experts from this website (Amazon links):
> Ivation Wine Cooler – Energy-efficient wine cooler for 18 bottles with Wi-fi smart app control cooling system.
> Wine Rack – Beautiful, elegant wood rack for up to 7 bottles and the choice of vertical or horizontal storage.
> Durand Wine Opener – Classic vintage wine opener (we like all these classic staff).
> YouYah Iceberg Wine Decanter – The most beautiful and handy wine decanter we personally use.
> Bormioli Rocco Wine Glasses – A set of eight elegant and traditional wine glasses made in Italy.
> Vintorio Wine Aerator – Simple but really useful wine aerator for a reasonable price.
> The Original Vacu Vin Wine Saver – The best wine saver on the market in a package with two vacuum stoppers and two wine servers.
And if you want to become a true connoisseur of wine, we recommend reading the book Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine (Amazon link), where you will find all the information you need about winemaking, wine varieties, flavors, and much more.
Final Thoughts
Let’s face it, wine is ideally stored at conditions around 55° F, under 70% humidity levels, in darkness, and away from exposure to any harmful chemical fumes or vibrations.
To achieve such controlled settings, a wine cellar or wine refrigerator is almost required. A wine refrigerator is a much cheaper and more practical option.
But make no mistake about it, people have been storing wine at room temperature forever and will continue to do. The wine most certainly can be stored long-term at room temperature, even Champagne.
If you don’t have the resources to acquire a wine fridge or cellar, just get a wine a cheap wine rack and do your best to at least keep the wine in a darker place away from vibrations and chemicals.
No, wine stored at room temperature won’t age as gracefully and robustly as wine stored under ideal conditions, you will be fine. I promise you’ll be fine.
Scientific Literature Referenced:
Pérez-Coello, M., González-Viñas, M., Garcı́a-Romero, E., Dı́az-Maroto, M., & Cabezudo, M. (2003). Influence of storage temperature on the volatile compounds of young white wines. Food Control, 14(5), 301-306. doi:10.1016/s0956-7135(02)00094-4 (via: ScienceDirect)
Scrimgeour, N., Nordestgaard, S., Lloyd, N., & Wilkes, E. (2015). Exploring the effect of elevated storage temperature on wine composition. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research, 21, 713-722. DOI:10.1111/ajgw.12196 (via Wiley)
TIP: Check out this page for a complete list of wine products and accessories I love. You’ll find my recommendations for wine refrigerators, decanters, and aerators and the best place to buy wine online. Click here to see the complete listing.