Bottle Storage
Congratulations! You are done! Now it’s time to play the waiting game. This part is more annoying then anything else but it’s important to not drink a wine that is not ready to be drunk.
After you bottle your wine your wine becomes a little sharp on the palette and requires some ‘cooling’ time to pretty itself up again. This is called ‘bottle shock’ and is a real occurrence.
Depending on what type of wine you made will decide for how long you should store your wine before drinking it. As with the bulk aging phase, bottle storage has the same rules. If you are making a white wine or a fruit wine you should wait a minimum of 1 month before drinking your wine. I would give it longer, but if you can’t wait, one month should be enough to calm your wine down to a drinkable level. With red wines (especially full bodied reds) I would wait a minimum of 3 months to a year). The ‘bigger’ the red is the longer you will have to wait. For instance, if you are making a cabernet sauv, a baco noir, or a big Italian wine like a charbono or amarone you should probably wait a year at least.
Make sure to store your wine bottles on their sides. This keeps the cork sealed. Keep your bottles in a cool, dry and dark place. Avoid places where there may be temperature fluctuations.
Once the drinking date has arrived it’s now time to enjoy all your hard work!
Cheers!