As with growing and maturing wine needs certain conditions for storing. Ideal conditions are found deep underground in Cabinet cellars ( first mentioned in 1728 at Schloss Vollrads ) with a constant temperature of 10 degrees and a humidity of 90 percent. The cellar mould which envelops the bottles also protects them from light temperature and humidity changes.

But wine may also be stored in quite normal cellars for several years and also improve in quality. The required conditions should also if possible be a constant temperature of around 10 degrees and humidity of around 90 percent. One can achieve this at least approximately by observing some important points:

-- Heating pipes should be insulated.
-- Cellar windows should not face south.
-- The floor should not be paved or cemented.
-- There should always be a bucket of water standing     there.
-- A sufficient supply of fresh air.

If temperature fluctuations are unavoidable the bottles should be wrapped in black crepe paper in order to keep the temperature. Chimney bricks are also well suited for storing wine set one behind the other upright against the cellar wall. There the wine is also protected from light temperature and humidity flactuations.

Of course the bottles should be stored undisturbed that means to be moved as little as possible. Since over a period of time the label may come off so that one no longer knows what is in the bottle they should be wrapped in tissue paper.

Returning to the Rheingau record making wines. It should be added that in 1896 when the record making wine of the 1893 vintage was a promising but still unimportant guy the London wine importers ‘Berry Bros. & Co’ published a most interesting price list in which the very finest wines were also listed under ‘Hock’ for ‘Hochheimer’ the English synonym for Rhine and in particular Rheingau wines. For one dozen bottles of ‘Marcobrunn Cabinet’ or ‘Rüdesheimer Hinterhaus’ both of the 1862 vintage the wine enthusiast had to pay
GBP 200, 00 the equivalent by today’s purchasing power of around € 1.380,49
( DM 2.700,00 ) per bottle. Amongst all the premium European wines only a Château d´Yquem approached this price all the others including the most famous wines of the Médoc cost much less.

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