Vibration in a wine cellar is one of things that wine collectors are told to avoid, in much the same way that children are told at their mother’s knee to avoid snakes, spiders and strange gentlemen bearing unsolicited gifts. Vibration is supposed to be bad, sure, but to be perfectly honest, nobody really knows the exact reason why. The most cited damage that vibration causes is to re-suspend wine solids, which is a little like shaking a bottle up, but that in itself is hardly going to hurt a wine badly or reduce its cellar-life. Yet we all believe that vibration reduces longevity by advancing maturation. You tell me why and we’ll both know! Daylight is a much easier proposition, since it contains ultraviolet bandwidths, especially damaging UV-B rays (which are the ones responsible for skin cancer). Ultraviolet light is powerfully oxidative. Its effects can best be seen on clear bottles of beer which are displayed in well-lit refrigerator cabinets. Clear glass provides no UV protection whatsoever, and beer is very prone to oxidation. Consequently, I’ve had many a very bad bottle of beer from precisely these circumstances. Brown glass provides the best UV protection, which is precisely the reason it is the oldest and still the best (if indeed not the most decorative) colour for wine and beer bottles.
