The two biggest dangers to wine are wide temperature fluctuations and high temperatures for a sustained period of time. For wines that you plan to consume in the next week to the next year, which will probably be most of your wine, a dark, low-vibration closet in a home or apartment with a normal household temperature of 68 to 72 degrees is fine. It’s also wise to store your wine on its side, so that the wine remains in contact with the cork and keeps the cork from drying out. Actually, the color and thickness of the wine bottle itself are inherently a great help in protecting the wine as well.
For your high-end wines that merit bottle aging before consumption, you need to be more concerned about storing your wines in a proper temperature- and humidity-controlled environment. Unless you have hundreds of these elite bottles and can afford to build your own cellar, a refrigerated wine storage unit is probably your best bet. Unlike a standard refrigerator, these units keep wine at an ideal temperature of about 55 degrees and 70 percent humidity, with a minimum of vibration.
