If you observe how many wine makers and others treat their wine, you will be amazed at how tough wine can be.  Of course it is safer to store wine in a cool and dark place and if you still have wine with corks, it should be reasonably humid.

Let us look at the problems which may occur with wine that is not held in an underground cave, or its equivalent.  There is a risk that rapid changes in temperature may cause air to get into the wine due to expansion and contraction of air in the bottle.  There is a risk that corks will dry out. There is a risk that light and severe vibrations may in time have a detrimental effect. 

However most wines in most situations will survive these ravages and in the worst cases they may be caused to ‘age’ more quickly than the winemaker’s predictions, but it takes some time to happen.

To reduce the risks of pre-aging wine, without storing them in a cave, place your wines where temperatures are less susceptible to rapid change, keep them dark and lying on their side.

Substitute caves can be a purpose built cellar room, with or without temperature control or a temperature controlled wine cabinet.  Having spent the value of a substantial amount of wine on one of these, you will come to realise that nearly all wines being stored, are going to be opened long before they are in danger of any deterioration.  Your primary satisfaction will be that your wine is all stored in one place, making it easy to select a bottle from a single source.

There is an elegant alternative solution, which applies to any collection of wine, but is essential when wine is stored in different spaces according to its needs, such as those wines being held for longer periods being stored in a smaller but suitable space.  The solution is inventory management.

Vinote Cellar is a software package which records where every wine is stored, with every bottle carrying its own unique number on a bottle tag.  You tag your wine, place it in any space you designate and record where you have stored it. 

When it comes to selecting a wine, you carry out your selection at your computer, you note the number and the location of the wine.  You pull that selected bottle out and keep the removable tag.  Later you use the tag number to delete the bottle from your cellar list.

Thus your wines can be stored according to their value and when you are going to open them.  They can be stored anywhere with one space being cooler, quieter and darker for the wines you intend to age.  Your inventory always remains accurate.