NOTES ON KEEPING A CELLAR

You should keep wine the same way you'd keep a teenager: cool, on its side, in the dark, and free from vibration.  

That means you're smart to store your wines in the basement—the northeast corner is best—free of jostling from nearby freezers, stairways or woofers. Humid conditions trump dry ones. Lay the bottles on their sides to keep the corks moist, and in total darkness to shield the wine from harmful ultraviolet light. 

If you do not have a basement, find some place—a closet, a small room—on the north side of your dwelling. If you can clear out the space underneath the kitchen sink, that might work—and your wine will be right at hand for dinner. An empty (and inoperative) fireplace is also a good alternative because such downdrafts as there are help keep things relatively cool.  

More than anything else, steady temperature matters. Severe fluctuations in temperature (say, 80° days all summer and 50° days all winter) are actually worse than a year-around temperature of 70°. Of course, if you have a true cellar that keeps to 55° all year, your wine will thank you. 

It’s best not to store wine in open racks in the living area or (especially) in the kitchen. What you gain in ambiance, you lose in wine quality. Basically, the heat ruins the wine—and in short order. 

A number of firms sell special, self-contained humidity- and temperature-controlled wine storage units designed for apartments or condominiums. Storing wine in these is ideal, especially for city dwellers, but constant opening and closing, combined with the machine’s vibrations, harms wine in the long term (say, 4-5 years).