Wine is a particular beverage. If not stored properly, it can easily become ruined. Following a few very easy steps, wine can be bought and stored for a long time without issue, making sure it’s ready for you when you’re ready for it.

Below are five best ways on how to store wine the right way:

1. Lay it down

The most commonly accepted way to store wine is to lay it down on its side. This is done in an attempt to help ensure the corks don’t dry out. As this is the traditional way to store wine, most wine racks are designed to store wine like this anyway.

If you’re going to be drinking the wine in the near future, storing it standing up is totally fine. And if the wine is sealed with anything other than a cork, it is also fine. Laying the bottle down only helps ensure the cork stays moist so air cannot get in and taint the wine.

2. Keep it cool

Store wine in an area of the house that is fairly cool. Obviously a cellar is nice, but most people don’t really have one of those kicking around in their home. A basement is often a nice cool place, or a cold room. The perfect temperature is between 45 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you don’t follow the advice of keeping your wine cold, you run the risk of it aging at an accelerated rate and of it losing its flavours and complex aromas.

An environment that is too cold for the wine could actually dry out the cork, causing air to get at the wine and damage it. At even colder temperatures, the wine could freeze, causing the liquid to expand which can pop the cork out – then you’ll have quite a mess on your hands!

3. Keep it dark

If too much light touches the wine, it can cause it to go bad. The best place in your home to keep your wine is somewhere dark – like in a cupboard or a room that does not see a lot of light.

Light-bodied white wines are the most sensitive, but all wines are sensitive to the light in some way. Essentially, the light can cause faults in the wine, which will negatively affect the taste.

4. Don’t store wine for too long

Not all wines get better with age! This is a very common misconception with wine. In fact, very few wines are meant to be kept for longer than a few years.

Although wine has a decent enough shelf life, you really don’t want to try to age most of them. All that is going to happen if you leave it too long is that it is simply not going to taste the way it was supposed to.

Maybe it will go bad, and taste sour or off, or maybe you just won’t be getting the full experience. Stick to drinking the wine when it was meant to be drunk to ensure you get to taste the wine you were looking for when you purchased the bottle. Don’t think that if you let it sit for a decade it will be better – you’d be wasting your money!

5. Wine cooling system

If you’re planning on getting really serious about your wine storage situation, you should invest in a wine cooling system. However, these can be expensive units, so this is likely a consideration for those who are really investing in wine. Otherwise, the above tips will serve just fine for all other wine drinkers.