Rack and ruin

He wasn't just a thirsty guest looking for more refreshment. He and his wife are in the throes of planning a new kitchen and have been encouraged by their designer to include one of those chic wine racks that nestle cosily close to the cooker or fit under the worktop.

I have made the point that their new kitchen really doesn't need a wine rack, but have been politely ignored on the basis that their designer knows what he is doing. The shame is that he really does know about kitchens, but he just doesn't know anything about wine.

Good wine doesn't like living in kitchens. If you have a case of really good claret, chianti or champagne, then the kitchen is the last place you should put it.

Good wine likes to be kept in the dark, in a cool place and at a fairly constant humidity. It also prefers not to be joggled every few days as the contents of a kitchen wine rack are explored for something to drink with tonight's supper.

I am not totally against kitchen wine racks, but they should only be regarded as temporary storage – for the few bottles of supermarket wine that you bought this week and will probably polish off next week.

In fact, these bottles don't actually need to be stored lying down. The whole idea of a wine rack is to keep the bottles horizontal so that the cork stays wet, but since more than 50 per cent of supermarket wine now comes with screwcaps, they are quite happy to stand up somewhere in a cupboard. Even the ones sealed with a cork don't need to lie down if you are only keeping them for a week or so.

They have been standing on a shelf in a supermarket or shop for several weeks and will happily stand for several more months without anything untoward happening to the cork.

So by all means allow your kitchen designer to build you a wine rack for your day-to-day drinking, but if you don't have a lot of space then a small cupboard will do just as well.

For wine that you intend keeping more than a month or so, you need to find a better place than the kitchen to keep it and this is where those of you who have houses with cellars can start to look smug.

A cellar is ideal for wine storage. Cool and dark with a constant temperature and humidity, a well-maintained cellar that does not have a boiler, washing machine or tumble drier raising the temperature periodically can be regarded as the Rolls Royce of wine storage.

I think it should be compulsory for houses to be built with cellars, not just for wine, but for wellies, sledges, old bikes and the general household clutter that these days gets piled up in garages.

If you have a cellar, it should be racked out with space for bottles that will be opened in the short-term, and there should be off-the-floor shelving for cases that need to be kept for another few years. Floor stacking is fine, but I usually use strips of wooden batten to keep air circulating under the bottom layer which prevents damp getting to the labels.

If you are not blessed with a cellar, then you need to create a storage area for wine in a cool dark place where the temperature is fairly steady at between 10 and 15 Celsius. A north facing, spare bedroom, well away from central heating pipes will do, as will the back wall of a garage, but you will need to surround the bottles with enough insulation to prevent twice-daily temperature changes, particularly in summer.

Try to keep the garage well-ventilated so that petrol fumes don't somehow seep into the wine. Understairs cupboards are also pretty good, so long as there isn't a radiator nearby.

So once you have found your spot, what should you keep in it? Now is a pretty good time to review your wine stocks and have a clear out, ready for the next batch of purchases.

First of all, carefully examine any raffle prizes or wine gifts which have arrived in the last few months. It is possible that they may be gems, but they are more likely to be cheap, cheerful and perfect for glugging with a Wednesday night supper.

Also check out any white wines more than two vintages old. Grand white burgundies, many Rieslings and some Australian Semillons will happily age for decades, but a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc needs to be opened and enjoyed while it still has its fresh-tasting gooseberry flavours.

Price is often a good indicator here. If you paid less than 6 for a wine, it is not going to improve much with age, so enjoy it while it still has the lively fruit it was made to have.

Move wine that is approaching maturity to one end of the wine rack and clear space for new purchases, and if something is well over the hill, stand it in the kitchen, next to the cooker and use it to enliven soups, stews and gravies.

Now you need to decide what you are going to buy. Bordeaux has been having a tough time recently and the 2007 and 2008 vintages were

overpriced for these recessionary times so stock still remains.

Now growers have the excellent 2009 vintage in their tanks and they will launch that on the market within a few months so it is possible that prices will soften for older vintages.

I'll keep an eye on offers and let you know as they appear.

Champagne is always worth storing for a while, even supermarket champagne. Six months quiet rest and relaxation in a cool place will do wonders for non-vintage fizz, and vintage will improve dramatically if you keep it another year or so.

Last year, I made a resolution to open up a collection of old bottles which were probably over the hill, having been lost during a house move a decade ago.

Instead of waiting for the "right" occasion, I just pulled the corks for mid-week suppers and accepted the flavours I found. It was quite a revelation. Not all of them were holding up, but some were magnificent.

A 1982 St Emilion, a fairly pedestrian 1985 Mdoc and a simply stunning 1985 St Julien gave me a range of flavours that can only come from older wines – soft, sensuous perfumes, delicacy of flavour, precise, balanced acidity and glorious complexity.

These wines did not cost me a fortune either. I bought en primeur and stored them at home, sometimes in less-than-ideal conditions. Older wines have flavours that just don't appear in young, fruit-forward wines, so this year, make space in your life for a wine rack – but don't put it in the kitchen.