How to Ruin Your Wine

Wine is fragile. It can be screwed up in the vineyard (rare), in wine making (not very often), or once it leaves the winery (too often).

We've probably all heard about corked wine, even if we're not sure what it is. There are various bacteria and processes in the making of wines that can mess it up. More likely though, a wine gets fouled up by the consumer, usually due to lack of knowledge.

Heat is often a problem. This "cooks" the wine and it cannot be undone. Heat will at least dull the taste. Enough heat for a long enough time will give it a pruney flavor. A very short-term exposure shouldn't cause problems, as liquids take a while to heat up. But once the bottle is hot to the touch or wine is seeping out of the cork from expansion, you are in trouble. If you're going to try to drink a wine that's had a heat problem, drink it soon. Trying to wait it out thinking the damage will go away will not help.

Light, UV light specifically, messes with the chemical compounds giving a burnt smell or oxidation (gives nutty, vinegary characteristics). This can only take a few hours of direct exposure. The sun is the biggest source of UV light, but fluorescent light puts out UV, also.

Aging wine for too long can be an issue. Not all wine gets better with age. Wines have a peak drinking window then slowly go downhill. When is the peak? Good question. It might be when you buy the wine; it might be in a few years.

Storage is often an issue at home, as few of us have a perfect cellar. Even if wines only sit around your house a few weeks you should have a controlled environment. As was mentioned, heat and light are problems. A constant, cool temperature with moderate humidity and not much direct light is what's needed. If the wine has a cork it should be kept wet, so store in a position where wine is in contact with it.

This wine, sitting in a store window, is ruined

Leaving a bottle open for too long will send the wine downhill as though you were quickly aging it. If you don't finish a wine then preserve it by getting the oxygen out of the bottle. There are pumps and spray wine preservers.

Think about that store you buy wine from a store. Bottles left standing up with the corks drying out, florescent lights, maybe stored near a window that lets in heat and light. There are stores that take care of their wine and those that don't.