Your wine store is well-lit and all the bottles are standing upright. Why are these two situations a big problem for wine lovers?

• Light is bad for wines. Exposure to fluorescent lights, even for just a week, can start wines on a downwards spiral of deterioration. Usually, we don't give it a thought and reach for the first bottle standing upright --or for the bottle on top if the wines are on their side in a rack. This is a bad habit because you always pick the bottle with the most exposure to the fluorescent lights.
  
  If you are grabbing a low-cost, rapid-turnover item, it doesn't matter. But if you are spending over $25, well, those bottles probably don't fly off the shelf. That top bottle could be exposed to the light for weeks, even months. Fluorescent light can fade water colors hung on a wall, so imagine how it can negatively impact your pricey wine.
  
  So learn a new habit. To get the wine that's in the best condition, reach behind the front bottle and take the one in the shadow if they are standing upright. Bend down and reach for a bottle on its side that is underneath the top bottle.
• Corks that are out of contact with the wine dry out, shrink, and allow air to enter which oxidizes the wine and causes it to deteriorate.
  
  This can happen in just a few months. Yet, to save space, most liquor stores and virtually all supermarkets stand their bottles upright.
  
  Unless the wine you are selecting is a low-cost, rapid-turnover item, you risk buying a wine that may be spoiled. If you are tempted by a wine that sells for over $25, and it's standing upright in the store, just walk on by because it may have been standing there for months. That fine wine should have been in a wine rack on its side.
  
  Fortunately, fine wine shops lay their better wines on their sides.

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