THE IMMACULATE CELLAR

Now that you've purchased those bottles of premium-grade wine, it's time to make sure they are stored in the correct conditions to ensure preservation of quality for consumption, collection or investment, because irregardless of how good a wine is, or its maturing potential, if stored improperly, it will never attain its full promise and lose resale value. Therefore, wines must be maintained in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment, whether in professional storage facilities or the privacy of your home.

Storage fees will be involved, although some wine merchants and wine investment companies may offer complimentary storage for a few months or years, after which cellaring charges will apply. Choose a reputable third-party warehouse with verifiable storage conditions and CCTV monitoring, where wines may only be moved with written approval and are fully insured to full replacement value.