MW Wines operates a state-of-the-art climate-controlled facility that has been designed to ensure ideal wine storage conditions for your wine as we are aware of how important it is to wine quality.
There are a number of factors that combine to produce ideal storage conditions for wine. They are:
1. Temperature
Temperature is the most critical factor for any wine cellar to control effectively as variations in temperature will affect the wine in the short-term more than any other issue. Whilst establishing a cool environment for wine storage is important, what is critical is to maintain a constant temperature with variations of less than 1 degree in any one day
Fluctuations in temperature affect the aging potential of wines with the fluctuations resulting in expansion and contraction of the cork. Whilst cork has good properties of elasticity, corks will begin to lose their elasticity after experiencing any rapid change of temperature. Once the elasticity of the cork has been affected to the point of no longer providing an effective seal, the wine will quickly oxidise and leakage will occur, thus spoiling the wine. Therefore, having stability in the temperature range over any period of time is crucially important.
In respect to establish an ideal temperature for storage there are various factors which need to be considered. If the temperature is too low this only delays maturation and can result in deposits or suspensions developing in the wine. Conversely, if the temperature if maintained too high, maturity of the wine will be accelerated. Exposure to too high a temperature will spoil the wine, many exposures at too high a temperature will spoil it entirely and will almost certainly render it undrinkable.
MW Wines offers a constantly monitored wine cellar environment of 15°C +/- 1°C, widely considered as optimum for ageing wines at an appropriate rate.
2. Humidity
Humidity is a major factor affecting wine storage. If the humidity is too low, below about 55%, corks can dry out. Any drying of the cork will cause shrinkage, thus breaking the seal and enabling air to enter the bottle and thus cause oxidation. At the higher end of the scale excessive humidity can cause labels and/or cardboard boxes to decay and over the longer term enable mould to build up causing possible contamination of the corks and tainting of the wine.
The ideal relative humidity of 60 to 80% is the ultimate best for storing wine both for the short term and the long term. It is practically impossible to maintain an area at exactly humidity and minor fluctuations of say +/- 5% are acceptable over any 12-hour period.
MW Wines offers a constantly monitored cellar environment maintaining consistent relative humidity between 60 and 80%
3. Light
After temperature and humidity, light is wines next biggest foe. Light, whether it is sunlight or fluorescent light will cause wines to age prematurely. The source of the problem is ultraviolet light (UV), which will penetrate even the darkest coloured bottles. It is capable of tainting the wine or even ruining it altogether by breaking down the natural compounds in the wine.
MW Wines has been fitted out with incandescent lighting, which is UV FREE to ensure that wines stored in the storage facility is NOT affected by ultraviolet light. Lighting remains turned off in all areas whilst they are unattended.
4. Ventilation
Lack of ventilation is a major factor that can cause major negatively affects on wines stored in a damp mouldy cellar. It is imperative that wine cellars are free from dampness, mould and odours as they can easily enter the cork and contaminate the wine. Mould is a major cause of wine damage and damages and taints corks and thus the wine.
MW Wines' environment is kept meticulously clean at all times. Filters for the air-conditioning units are serviced on a regular basis to ensure no unwanted odours infiltrate the storage area.
5. Vibration
Wine should be stored in a dark, climate controlled still environment. Vibration and constant movement will disturb all types of wine but is particularly harmful to the sediment in red wine.
MW Wines is housed in a concrete floored heritage building dating back to the 1880's. Our air-conditioning systems have been designed to keep all vibrations and movement out of the storage area, with the main compressor housed in a separate plant room on anti-vibration supports. The compressor gently releases the chilled air into our storage area that is pumped into and around the storage area using very quiet oscillation controlled internal fan motors to virtually eliminate all vibrations and noise.
6. Security
MW Wines has taken every precaution to ensure that wines are being stored in a highly secure location.
Access to the building is controlled by MW staff. The storage area is only accessible through fingerprint scanning entry provided only to authorised personnel. A member of staff must approve entry into the storage area to any wine storage client or their contractually nominated agent. If the MW staff on duty does not recognise a client then personal identification is required to proceed. This personal identification has been agreed in advance and noted on every rental contract. No exceptions will be made to this policy and thus no unauthorised personnel are permitted into the storage area.
MW Wines has a state-of-the-art security system with 24/7 monitoring. All areas are both monitored and recorded by movement detection closed circuit television cameras, which monitor the entire building. The camera system records all movements at a high-resolution 24/7 and has a virtually instantaneous response time from our security monitoring service should something go wrong.
All of the above measures have been implemented to make absolutely certain that all MW owned wines and all Client owned wines in the centre are protected from any robbery or theft to the highest available industry standards.