Storing Wine In Fridge: A Bad Idea?

Many people resort to storing wine in the fridge as it is convenient and seems practical. The kitchen fridge is already there in the house and it certainly has enough space for you to fit in a bottle or two. But, does your kitchen fridge provide the right storage conditions for your wine? Are you putting your wine at risk of early spoilage by storing it in a refrigerator?

A wine cooler is an expensive purchase and not all wine lovers can invest in a refrigerator that just stores their favourite beverage. Then there’s also the issue of the additional space such a storage unit may take up. So, unless you have an impressive collection of wine bottles, it makes no sense to buy a wine cooler.

Storing wine in fridge: Here’s why it’s bad for your wine

The next best option in the absence of a wine cooler is a kitchen fridge, right? It keeps your wine cool and protects it from exposure to sunlight. However, storing wines in a kitchen fridge for a long duration can affect their quality. Here’s why:

The vibrations from a kitchen fridge can alter the chemical structure of a wine.
Refrigerators operate at a very low temperature, and this can dry out the cork of your wine bottle, due to which it can crumble when you try to remove it.
Have you ever kept a bowl of rice in the fridge without a lid? Notice how the grains shrink in size? That’s because kitchen refrigerators have low levels of humidity for the preservation of food. This low humidity can cause your wine bottle cork to shrink as well, causing spillage.
Your kitchen fridge is also full of food aromas that can seep into your wine. So if you want to use your kitchen fridge for wine storage, keep it squeaky clean and store foods that don’t have a pungent, sharp smell. The latter part might seem like a lot of work, just to store a bottle of wine.
Also, we open our refrigerators multiple times a day, leading to temperature fluctuation. This erratic and frequent exposure to heat can speed up the process of ageing in your wine.

Also Read: What is High-Quality Wine

Storing wine in fridge: Here’s when it works

Overall, a kitchen fridge also makes up for a good place to store an unopened bottle of wine for a short duration, so that you can protect it from heat and direct sunlight. In case you feel that your wine is too cold for your liking, you can simply take it out 10-15 minutes before you plan to open it. You can also store an unopened bottle of wine in your fridge for speed chilling if you have guests coming over on short notice.

However, there is one situation in which a refrigerator does a better job of storing wine than any other cooler. If you have opened a bottle of wine, but couldn’t finish it, you should seal your bottle tightly and put it in your kitchen fridge. This is because the refrigerator’s cool temperature will slow down the rate of your wine’s oxidation, keeping your wine fresh for a day. Again, popping your opened wine bottle in a kitchen fridge is a bad idea, because once the wine is exposed to air, it starts turning into vinegar, and you cannot reverse the process. All you can do is slow down the process of oxidation for sometime and still savour your wine the next evening.

Also Read: Healthiest Wine To Drink