Living in a tiny apartment doesn’t rule out storing a small-but-mighty wine collection, nor keeping those bottles in tip-top shape.
Patrick Cournot, the owner and sommelier behind Ruffian, a teensy wine bar in New York City, knows this firsthand. Ruffian’s narrow digs has room only for a dozen or so seats along its landing strip of a bar. Cournot himself lives in Brooklyn, land of pint-sized apartments, and is well-versed in creative stockpiling solutions. If anyone can Macgyver wine storage in a small space, it’s him.
Curious how to make wine collecting work in cramped quarters? Here are some of Cournot’s spot-on tips.
Patrick Cournot, the owner and sommelier behind Ruffian, a teensy wine bar in New York City, knows this firsthand. Ruffian’s narrow digs has room only for a dozen or so seats along its landing strip of a bar. Cournot himself lives in Brooklyn, land of pint-sized apartments, and is well-versed in creative stockpiling solutions. If anyone can Macgyver wine storage in a small space, it’s him.
Curious how to make wine collecting work in cramped quarters? Here are some of Cournot’s spot-on tips.
Keep wine bottles out of the kitchen
Plenty of well-meaning oenophiles stash bottles in their kitchens, but it’s one of the worst possible places to store wine. “That’s the room that will get the hottest of all the rooms in your apartment,” says Cournot. Heat essentially cooks the wine and can turn it bitter in a relatively short period of time.
Plenty of well-meaning oenophiles stash bottles in their kitchens, but it’s one of the worst possible places to store wine. “That’s the room that will get the hottest of all the rooms in your apartment,” says Cournot. Heat essentially cooks the wine and can turn it bitter in a relatively short period of time.
Cournot recalls a friend who once made the tragic mistake of keeping six (expensive) bottles of Bordeaux and Rioja Reserve in the cabinet directly over her stove for three whole years: “She opened one bottle and it was awful. They had this sweet heavy prune flavour. It tasted like prune syrup!”
Lay bottles flat when possible
The wine bottle cork can shrink if it gets too cold or too dry. When this happens, oxygen can get inside the bottle and dull the wine’s flavour, eventually turning it bitter. One way to combat shrinkage? Lay your bottles flat. “Liquid is touching cork, so it’s not going to dry out,” explains Cournot.
Lay bottles flat when possible
The wine bottle cork can shrink if it gets too cold or too dry. When this happens, oxygen can get inside the bottle and dull the wine’s flavour, eventually turning it bitter. One way to combat shrinkage? Lay your bottles flat. “Liquid is touching cork, so it’s not going to dry out,” explains Cournot.
Rethink the refrigerator
Storing wine in the fridge for a few days is fine, but you’re asking for trouble if you keep bottles in there for longer periods. “It’s quite dry in a normal fridge, and the corks will shrink,” says Cournot. “It’s not a good place to leave bottles for half a year or longer.” Instead, invest in a wine refrigerator that fits easily into an apartment and goes easy on your budget.
Don’t let the light in
“Light is the worst enemy of wine,” says Cournot. Even if a cork is plugged in tight, UV rays found in sunlight can prematurely age and taint a vintage. The lighter the wine and the more transparent the bottle, the more susceptible the wine is. The solution? Store wine in a dark place, and if that’s not a possibility, “it’s not that hard to throw a towel over it."
The hall closet is your friend
“The hallway closet is the perfect spot to put a bottle of wine," says Cournet. It is likely the most temperature-stable place in your apartment, and the closet door is a built-in light reducer. It's even better if a closet has a shelf built at eye level, as keeping wine in an easy-to-reach place means you’re more likely to drink it.
“If you have anything that’s being stored for months at a time, you’re not going to remember what you have,” says Cournot, adding that he has seen plenty of bottles “wind up in Never Never Land.”
Storing wine in the fridge for a few days is fine, but you’re asking for trouble if you keep bottles in there for longer periods. “It’s quite dry in a normal fridge, and the corks will shrink,” says Cournot. “It’s not a good place to leave bottles for half a year or longer.” Instead, invest in a wine refrigerator that fits easily into an apartment and goes easy on your budget.
Don’t let the light in
“Light is the worst enemy of wine,” says Cournot. Even if a cork is plugged in tight, UV rays found in sunlight can prematurely age and taint a vintage. The lighter the wine and the more transparent the bottle, the more susceptible the wine is. The solution? Store wine in a dark place, and if that’s not a possibility, “it’s not that hard to throw a towel over it."
The hall closet is your friend
“The hallway closet is the perfect spot to put a bottle of wine," says Cournet. It is likely the most temperature-stable place in your apartment, and the closet door is a built-in light reducer. It's even better if a closet has a shelf built at eye level, as keeping wine in an easy-to-reach place means you’re more likely to drink it.
“If you have anything that’s being stored for months at a time, you’re not going to remember what you have,” says Cournot, adding that he has seen plenty of bottles “wind up in Never Never Land.”
This article first appeared on Robert Parker Wine Advocate in February 2017. Click here for more stories on wine.
