How to Store Your Wine Bottles

Courtesy of @sammser

Whether you're building a new wine cellar in your estate or just bought a (hopefully) cool final sale wine rack from West Elm, you're officially in the business of cellaring wine. Congratulations!

But wine can be fussy and delicate, so let's create a game plan to assure our wine will store safely and age perfectly. Here are the things to keep an eye on when storing wine at home.

1. Keep temperature and humidity in mind

The single most important factor in preserving the quality of your wine will be the temperature and humidity. Ideally, wine should be stored at a consistent temperature of around 55°F, though anywhere between 50-65°F should be good. Make sure that temperature is CONSISTENT, as variations that cause the wine to heat up or cool down over and over rapidly will damage the wine. Oh no!

Wine also likes moderate humidity, and overly dry or moist storage can damage the cork, which will, in turn, damage your wine. So if you live in Arizona or want to store your wine in a damp basement or under a sink, please consider another location or an appliance that can moderate humidity.

2. Limit sunlight and vibration

Wine doesn't like to be messed with. And though those decorative bottles in your kitchen look great, the UV from sunlight can damage the wine or warm the wine in a way that degrades quality. Additionally, if you are storing wine next to a subwoofer or dishwasher, make sure the bottles aren't constantly vibrating. So stash your wine away somewhere nice and dark and chill. For sparkling wines, we also suggest letting them relax for a few weeks after shipping.

3. Store wine in the right orientation

Still wine bottles are best stored on their sides to assure the cork remains moist and doesn't dry out, which will lead to excessive aging, seepage, or damage. But we recommend storing sparkling wines like pét-nat upright to allow any sediments to settle at the bottom of the bottle and reduce the chance of these carbonated beverages from turning into cannons if stored on their side.

4. Get a wine fridge

A good wine fridge can solve most of the problems above for you, storing wine at an ideal temperature and climate and limiting light and vibration from reaching your bottles. The regular refrigerators you store your food in are not great options for long-term storage, as they tend to run cooler and dryer than wine fridges. When buying a wine fridge, there are great options for different sizes and budgets. Just make sure to get one with a good warranty.

Aug 25, 2022 at 12:00 AM Permalink

Decanting 101

A $0 Trick to Make Any Bottle of Wine Taste Even Better

Decanting wine is the art of slowly pouring your wine from its original bottle into a glass vessel or decanter. Decanting has numerous benefits, including separating the sediment from the liquid. This is especially helpful for red wines, especially older wines and vintage ports, which hold the most sediment while young white wines contain the least. Sediment is not harmful, but tastes...unpleasant.

Decanting also enhances a wine's flavor by exposing it to fresh air and allowing it to "breathe." Aeration enhances a wine’s flavor by softening tannins and releasing the gases that have developed in the absence of oxygen. Decanting wine lets the dormant flavors and aromas to expand.

1. Sit 'Em Up

If you've been storing your wine horizontally (as you should 👏), now is the time to sit them upright to let any sediment settle to the bottom. Usually 24 hours before serving is recommended.

2. Pour

Slowly pour your wine into the decanter vessel. Our laboratory-quality glass Erlenmeyer flasks are perfect because they come in two sizes: 750 Ml or 1.5 L. If sediment starts pouring to the top, sit it upright again and let it settle. Repeat until there is no wine left in the bottle.

3. Swirl

Swirl the wine in the decanter and let it sit. A general rule of thumb is to decant most red wines for 15 minutes. 

4. Serve!

Make sure to recork the decanted wine within 18 hours.

*Tips & Tricks*

Can you decant white wine?

Yes, especially orange wines or expensive white wines that taste a little tight. Generally speaking, you should try the wine before decanting to determine if it could benefit from a bit of oxygenation. 

No decanter?

No problem. Any clean glass vase, carafe, pitcher, etc. will do. The vessel does not matter. The point is to introduce the wine to some air.

Broken Cork?

Occasionally, a cork may break, dispersing pieces you don’t want in your wine glasses. While pouring, the cork gathers near the neck of the bottle as you decant into another vessel (same as sediment). If the cork disintegrates, you can use a strainer while decanting to filter out the smaller pieces.

Which wines don't need decanting?

Sparkling! Generally speaking, sparkling wines thrive most when they have a bounce, which decanting and aerating reduce (like a flat soda). Although, lately it has become trendy to decant sparkling wines that need opening up. Always try your wine first before deciding!

How long should I decant?

Red Wines: 20 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the style

White Wines and Rosé: up to 30 minutes

Sparkling wines (if you dare): up to 15 minutes

Now through 7/31, take 5% off our decanters with code DECANTEVEN

🧪 Just be sure your goofy hump-backed assistant refills it with wine and not some experimental concoction 🧪

Jul 21, 2022 at 12:00 AM Permalink

Softcore Red Wine X Ravioli all'arrabbiata

Turn up the heat on your next date night in with this classic Roman dish. Shout out to our friends over at Cayenne Agency for this killer recipe. 🔥

Stock up on any 4+ bottles and score 10% off your next order with ARRABBIATA at checkout through 6/14.

Pasta all' Arrabiata

[time: 30 min] serves 4

Jun 10, 2022 at 10:32 AM Permalink

♻️ We're ReCORK Partners! ♻️

We recently became a private collections partner with @recorkofficial, North America's largest wine cork recycling program! 

ReCORK was launched in 2008 by Canadian footwear company SOLE. They are an alliance of businesses and individuals who work together to collect and repurpose natural wine corks. They use these corks to innovate and create natural, sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based foams and plastics.

Cork oak trees are fantastic carbon sinks. They absorb carbon from the air we breathe and lock it away in their bark. When the time comes to harvest the bark of the tree, which is what wine corks are made of, it is done so by hand only every nine years. This process causes no environmental damage and not a single tree gets cut down. Harvesting a cork oak tree's bark can extend the tree's lifespan to over 300 years. Every time a cork oak is harvested, it begins to regenerate its bark again. This process is also great for the planet as more carbon is taken out of the atmosphere and locked away in its new bark. The harvesting of the cork oak is one of the finest examples of traditional, sustainable land use. Cork oak forests are harvested for generations and cover nearly 2.7 million hectares of Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Tunisia, and France.

Every year, the equivalent of over 31 billion bottles of wine are consumed worldwide. Too many of the corks used as stoppers in these bottles are thrown away and litter our landfills.  🚛 With the help of thousands of partners across North America, ReCORK has collected over 110 million natural wine corks.  🤩

Cork is an extremely versatile material with benefits that extend far beyond being a great bottle stopper. Cork's naturally durable, moisture-wicking, lightweight, and rot-resistant qualities make it perfect for repurposing into a wide variety of eco-friendly products. Check out their 100% recycled cork products here.

As soon as we learned about the program, we immediately reached out to sign up. At Tank, we know that recycling our corks goes a long way to making a positive environmental impact. Since joining, we have donated over 30 pounds of corks. Recycle your corks and encourage others to do so!
 

May 23, 2022 at 10:53 AM Permalink

Time to Fuel Up

It's time to fuel up your soul and hit the road.

Harkening back to our roots, Soul Fuel is a dark, luscious Napa Valley blend that is a complete throwback to wines like All or Nothing. That's right, we're back to big Zinfandel blends and vintage motorcycles, and it feels so good. 🍷

You love Zinfandel. We love Zinfandel. Everybody loves Zinfandel. So we made it the core of this wine. The fruit we got for this blend comes from the legendary valley floor where it enjoyed hot days and cool nights during the growing season which created the intensely concentrated blueberry flavor in this wine. 

Zinfandel has a long history in Napa. Existing in somewhat protected, historic vineyards may be the main reason it’s held on, if just barely, against the surrounding waves of Cabernet Sauvignon. Zinfandel’s lost past was only recently found within the last 20 years, when Carole Meredith, Ph. D., a professor at the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California at Davis, determined its Croatian roots. Today, Zinfandel is the third-leading wine grape variety in California, with more than 44,400 acres planted, according to The Wine Institute. It is grown in 45 of California’s 58 counties.

Next up in the blend is some peppery Syrah we sourced from the Carneros region, plus some Petite Sirah from Calistoga for tannins, and then a dash of Tempranillo, Primitivo, and Grenache. 🍇

So what is soul fuel? We believe that too often people find themselves burnt out, and that sucks. But we believe burnout comes not from doing too much, but from doing too little of what you love. You know, the shit that makes you smile. The shit that makes you present. The shit that makes you feel invigorated. That's soul fuel. 🪄

The story behind our love for motorcycles begins with Eddie Bratton, a young fella from Fargo, North Dakota. He bought his first motorcycle bike in 1926 at the age of 15 and eventually rode out from Fargo to California, surviving solely on onion sandwiches and potatoes he'd dig up from rural farms. Eddie started at Hap Jones' Indian Motorcycle dealership in San Francisco, tuning bikes and manufacturing custom "Bratton Cams," his rendition for the nation’s top riders looking for an extra boost. 

 He opened up his shop where Tank sits today, racing and repairing classic bikes until retiring in the early 80s. His custom 1947 Indian Chief still sits in our brick hallway with his trophies lined on the wall behind it. Some of our tasting room staff may say that Eddie still hangs around the back hallways of the garage. True legends never die but don’t worry, he’s not the hell-raiser he used to be.

Nothing but speed and excitement ahead. Go fuel up.

Purchase Soul Fuel

Take 10% off when you buy two or more bottles with code: FILLUP

May 21, 2022 at 2:10 PM Permalink

The Queens of Punk Rock 🎸

If you know Tank at all, you know we are considered the punk rock winery of Napa Valley. Punk rock is one of our core inspirations, informing both our labels and our winemaking. 

The female experience and feminism empowered women's participation in punk rock beginning in the 1970s. So move over, boys, and make room for the queens of punk rock. The following ladies’ unique music and style shaped the movement and the image of punk.

Joan Jett (The Runaways, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts)

Starting out strong with Joan Jett whose careerbegan at just 17 years old with the glam rock band, The Runaways. The band achieved overnight success before founding member Cherie Currie left the group. Joan went on to pursue a stellar solo career and is regarded as one of the founding ladies of punk rock.  In 2015, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Listen on Spotify

Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders)

The American-born musician worked in London at Vivienne Westwood’s ‘SEX’ shop before finding success with her band The Pretenders. Hynde was a part of the London punk movement which had a huge influence on her personal style. Hynde was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 as a member of the Pretenders. In the past five years, Chrissie Hynde has rekindled her love of painting, something that started even before creating music. You can see some of her work here: https://chrissiehynde.art/

Listen on Spotify

Patti Smith

Patti Smith ranks among the most ambitious, unconventional, and challenging rock & rollers of all time. A prominent member of the New York punk scene, Smith’s debut album ‘Horses’ was a huge hit. Smith has even been referred to as the "punk poet laureate."

Listen on Spotify

Debbie Harry (Blondie)

Blondie’s most successful hits were a fusion of calypso, pop, and rap music but Debbie Harry came of age in 70’s New York and was a part of the American punk movement. Before forming Blondie, Harry was in a string of punk bands and her cool-girl aesthetic has solidified her as a punk icon.

Listen on Spotify

Siouxsie Sioux (Siouxsie and the Banshees)

Siouxsie Sioux friend of the Sex Pistols found major commercial success with her band, Siouxsie and the Banshees. Sioux’s punk goth style gave her a unique image and created a strong identity for her band.

Listen on Spotify

Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill)

The frontwomen of Bikini Kill, Kathleen Hanna gave young girls and queer youth a voice. The band was a reincarnation of punk and created what was to become the ‘riot grrrl’ movement. Hanna’s live shows challenged gender politics and binary stereotypes.

Listen on Spotify

Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth)

Kim Gordon found fame as a member of the 90’s punk rock band Sonic Youth. The bassist, guitarist, and vocalist has been regarded for her effortless sense of style and even launched a clothing line, X-Girl back in 2003. The X-Girl clothing line featured campaigns fronted by Chloë Sevigny and Sofia Coppola.

Listen on Spotify

Wendy O. Williams 

Wendy O. Williams was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She came to prominence as the lead singer of the punk rock band Plasmatics. She was known for her onstage theatrics, including chainsawing guitars. She performed her own stunts in videos and often rocked a mohawk. In 1985, during the height of her popularity as a solo artist, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

Listen on Spotify

Belinda Carlisle (The Go Gos) 

Belinda Carlisle was the lead singer of the Go-Go's, the most successful all-female rock band of all time. After the dissolution of the Go-Go's in 1985, Carlisle went on to have a successful solo career. The Go-Go's were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in October 2021, and they celebrated by launching another tour.

Listen on Spotify

Apr 19, 2022 at 12:00 AM Permalink

Girl Scout Cookies & Wine

It's Cookie Season 🍪

If you've been eyeing up that sleeve of Thin Mints after popping your favorite bottle of red wine, you're not alone. We may or may not have stocked up on an entire freezer full of our favorite Girl Scout Cookies to ensure we have those delicious, crunchy treats for the months ahead. Click the button below to discover which cookies pair best with Tank wines!

Try it with:
Fever Dream Pét-Nat

Why it works:
This little lemon shortbread cookie packs a punch and perfectly complimented the vibrant citrus notes found in Fever Dream. Be careful – you might just eat the whole package at once.

Try it with:
Wild Child Rosé

Why it works:
The bright and juicy watermelon and strawberry fruit flavors in Wild Child are just what you need with the gooey caramel and tropical coconut vibes that Samoas deliver.

Try it with:
Soul Fuel

Why it works:
In what just might be our favorite pairing, these crispy chocolate and mint cookies play off of the coffee and mocha notes soooo well in Soul Fuel.

Try it with:
Make Money Red Wine

Why it works:
Something as rich and decadent as a buxom Napa Valley Cab deserves a cookie of equal standard. The rich, crunchy chocolate and caramel cookie is just that, and was a knockout for Make Money.

Mar 26, 2022 at 1:23 AM Permalink

5 Spots to Drink Wild Child This Summer in Sunny Northern California ☀️

1. Baker Beach

Every once in a while, the sun shines bright in San Francisco, and everyone flocks to the nearest park or beach to soak up the sun and day drink. With a stunning view of the Golden Gate Bridge, head to Baker Beach with a cooler full of wine and snacks because once you get here you won't want to leave. Look out for Gray-green serpentine protruding among the cliffs between Fort Point and Baker Beach. Serpentine forms when rocks deep in the earth’s crust are altered and forced to the surface. The northernmost end of Baker Beach is frequented by clothing-optional sunbathers if you're into it! 😜

2. Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is nature at its best! This large freshwater lake (the nation's second deepest lake) is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, straddling the border of California and Nevada. The crystal clear water is perfect for swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding, and boating. The mountains tower above in all directions boasting miles of hiking trails, and loads of natural vistas. Fun fact: The water in Lake Tahoe is 99.994% pure, making it one of the purest large lakes in the world!

3. Mendocino Coast

With jaw-dropping views with each turn of the road, the Mendocino Coast is truly a hidden gem and not to be missed if you are traveling to Northern California! Rural and desolate in the best way, many of Mendocino's first residents came from Maine, so it is not surprising that the architecture resembles that of a New England village, with charming Saltbox cottages, and stately Victorian mansions. Don't miss the Point Arena Lighthouse, an iconic landmark on California's northern coast!

4. Big Sur

Jagged cliffs pummeled by enormous waves line the scenic Pacific Coast Highway along Big Sur, creating some of California's most memorable ocean vistas. Give yourself plenty of time for stops along the way! The Point Lobos State Reserve has amazing coves, seals and otters swimming, tidepools, and more. The view at McWay Beach in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is well worth the short trek, with a waterfall flowing straight into the ocean. Bixby Bridge, one of the most photographed bridges in California, is a marvel of engineering from the 1930s. 

5. Lassen National Park

When planning a trip to Northern California, folks tend to go to Lake Shasta, the Redwood National Forest, and of course, Yosemite. Don't make the mistake of missing this rad park! Like a mini Yellowstone, Lassen Volcanic National Park is a geological wonderland. Only 400,000 people make their way to Lassen across all four seasons, significantly less than the other famous parks in the area. California's most underrated national park has great trails for hiking, colorful lakes, hydrothermal sites, and volcanic peaks. 

Email or DM us a picture of your Wild Child Rosé in the wild and we'll send you a code for $1 shipping on your next order of 2 or more bottles 😉 

Mar 24, 2022 at 12:00 AM Permalink

The One Where Tank Goes To Hog Island Oyster Co.

We ❤️ Hog Island Oyster Co.

With incredible acidity and juicy flavors that practically explode in your mouth, California Gigolo is the perfect pairing to the briny sweetness found in oysters, and more specifically, oysters from Hog Island Oyster Co.

While we love taking road trips out to the coast to visit their oyster farm in Tomales Bay, we're grateful to have Hog Island Oyster Co.'s Napa location a hop, skip, and a jump from Tank Garage Winery. Started in 1983, Hog Island is known as one of the top oyster locations on the west coast, raising five different oyster varieties as well as Manila clams on 160 acres of intertidal lands in Tomales Bay. 

So why does California Gigolo work so well with Oysters, you might ask? The Grüner-Veltliner, which represents 60% of the blend, was sourced from the rolling hills of Edna Valley by San Luis Obispo. The vineyard's close proximity to the Pacific Ocean offers diverse soils rich with volcanic and marine sediments, which translates to a complex minerality that works brilliantly with shellfish.

We ordered a sampler of five different oyster varieties: Sweetwaters, Atlantics, Kumamoto, French Hog and Olympia. Our personal favorite was the Hog Island Sweetwaters, which offer a slightly sweet and briny flavor with an almost smoky finish, bringing out the juicy peach and citrus notes in California Gigolo.

A little more on California Gigolo

Every Woman's Dream. Every Man's Fantasy. Or so we're told.

If you're looking for pleasure, let us give you a card for California Gigolo, a sexy, groovy white wine that'll make your tongue moan.

A California blend of 60% Grüner Veltliner, 26% Roussanne, 8% Chenin Blanc, and 6% Grenache Blanc, we went for a quaffable, poundable (😘) style that just tastes yummy. The star of this wine is the Grüner we sourced from the rolling hills of Edna Valley by San Luis Obispo. Just east of the Pacific Ocean, this is one of the coolest viticultural areas in California, with long passionate growing seasons, and diverse soils with volcanic and marine sediments and throbbingly rock hard shale. 

So how did we make it? Picked for flavor, hand-harvested, whole cluster direct to press, racked off of gross less, chilled fermentation in stainless steel and Austrian puncheon! The result is Grüner Veltliner that is both round with flavor while maintaining a fresh and crisp finish. Damn, we love this Austrian grape, it swings both ways. Add in the Roussanne for some additional herbal complexity, plus a few more friends, and we truly have a delicious wine.

How 'bout we unbutton its shirt and get a big waft of that sexy cologne. Wads of gorgeous aromas of citrus and nectarine swirl out of the glass, unzipping the pants to delectable herbaceous flavors of grapefruit, lemongrass, and peach supported by notes of white pepper and dill. With incredible acidity, the juicy flavors practically explode in your mouth, and drip down your neck and chest (RECORD SCRATCH)... ok, maybe we took it too far.

So, ahem, the label.

Sometimes we feel like the only winery truly celebrating the late '70s and early '80s. In this case, we're drawing on our nostalgia and busting out that old Betamax tape we've been hiding under our mattress. Though Betamax would ultimately lose the war against the technically inferior VHS format, we have fond memories of its high-quality presentation and retro packaging. Ok, it's also another nod to old porno films, but if we don't carry that torch, what winery will?

Feb 15, 2022 at 10:00 AM Permalink

Down the Bottling Line

Every winery has its own unique way of bottling. Curious about how your favorite winery in Napa does it? Everything is done on-site in our winemaking facility in Napa...on the back of a big rig backed up to our warehouse, of course. Our bottling process is simple and straightforward with quality in mind. Workers monitor each station and the whole process operates like a choreographed dance.  For the day, the cellar buzzes with the non-stop whirr of equipment and clink of bottles as they move down the line.

Let's take it step-by-step.

Step 1:

Empty bottles are taken from their cases and placed onto the conveyor headed straight to the bottle filler. 

Step 2: 

As the bottles move onto the wheel, vacuum and compressed air blow out any cardboard dust. The wine feeds from the tank inside the winery into a reservoir on the top of the bottle filler which fills 6 bottles at a time. 

Note:

A gas line delivers nitrogen which serves two purposes: it protects the wine from exposure to oxygen and degasses the wine, removing any lingering carbon dioxide. 

Step 3: 

The filled bottles are moved down the line, where a screwcap or a traditional cork is added to seal the bottle. Any guesses on what the wine pictured below could be? 

Hint: "For the label, we’re taking it back to our vintage roots with an image of a woman adorned in flowers."

Step 4: 

The bottles continue down the line where two to three workers place capsules over the mouth. 

Step 5:

Each bottle is placed onto a pedestal, where the machines rotate the bottle 180 degrees to perfectly apply the front and back labels. Peep the example bottle displayed on the left, to make sure the machine is operating correctly. Quality control, folks!

Step 6:

Once the bottles have made it through each station, they are re-packaged into the same boxes they started in.

Step 7:

The cases are labeled, pushed through a tape dispenser, and placed on pallets. Ready for transport! 

That's a wrap!

Follow our journey on Instagram to stay in the loop!

Jan 31, 2022 at 7:00 AM Permalink