Wine Storage Basics- Darkness
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Maintaining The Levels of Light In A Wine Cellar
The very best underground cellars are cold, incredibly stable, moist and dank, and of course, very dark. Wines are creatures of the night, emerging from their long hibernation for just one moment of glory. But that moment will be less than glorious if the wine has spent its hibernation continually on display.
It has been verified that exposure to light produces chemical reactions in wine that cause it to deteriorate. In particular, ultraviolet light has the greatest effect, and white wines and champagnes are the most vulnerable. Amber-coloured bottles provide very good protection, but regrettably these have long ago fallen out of fashion to their much less protective clear and green counterparts. Consequently, the best solution is to keep the cellar in complete darkness whenever it is unattended. Intermittent artificial light will have minimal effect, but daylight should be avoided.