The storage of wine can either hurt the quality of your wine long term, or can ensure that your investment in wine will last for years and not have any ill effects that come with storing wine in a non-optimal condition.
You don’t need to have an expensive built in wine cellar or a high dollar wine refrigerator to help your wine last for years. Even within your own house you will find that there are more optimal locations for your red wine storage or whatever wine you enjoy.
The main storage conditions you need to pay attention to when storing wine are:
Wine Storage Temperature:
When it comes to wine storage temp, the most important thing to remember and is usually in your control is to maintain a constant 
temperature. Meaning whether your wine is stored at 55F or 65F you should ensure that the wine temperature is as constant as possible. If you can maintain a temperature variable that is within a couple degrees you have already done a lot to ensure a long wine life and will ensure your wine quality won’t suffer.
When it comes to the proper temperature for wine storage, most wine experts agree that the ideal wine storage temperature is somewhere between 55F and 60F. Having said that, the one place I store my wine is typically in the lower level of my house. My house, like most, typically maintains a temperature around 70F. This is obviously not an optimal temperature for wine storage but, the lower level of my house is usually close to 10 degrees cooler and seems to maintain this pretty consistently. I may someday invest in a wine refrigerator but in the meantime, the lower level is best for storing my reds at a good temperature.
If you’re asking: Why is 55F – 60F the best temperature for red wine storage (all wines)? Well the answer revolves around the aging processes that occur in a bottle of wine. These aging processes are simple chemical processes that are what “ages” a bottle of wine. Like any chemical reaction, temperature has an adverse effect on the rate at which these wine aging reactions occur. To high of a temperature and things can happen to quickly, too low of a temperature and proper aging will never occur in your lifetime or will be very slow.
Again, like I mentioned earlier, if you want to control something, at the very least maintain a constant wine temperature.
Wine Storage Humidity
The second environmental factor when storing your wine is the Humidity. The main problem with not maintaining an ideal humidity in your wine storage area / wine cellar is the use of wine corks that are made of the traditional cork material. These traditional wine corks are not perfect at sealing and can be affected by the relative humidity within your wine cellar or wine storage area.
Ideally you want to maintain a humidity that is moderate to high. This will help ensure that your corks will not dry out and any wine leakage through the space between the cork and bottle, also called ullage, will be kept to a minimum.
If you are bottling your own wine, a cork to consider is the composite type of wine cork. These wine corks aren’t affected by humidity like the traditional corks are.
Wine Storage and Light
The third condition to keep in mind when you are trying to maintain an optimal environment for wine storage is light exposure. UV waves are not a good thing for wines. When storing your wines, it is best to store them in the dark. Storing wine under cover or in a dark area will ensure that the light won’t break down the wines molecular structures and ultimately damage your wines taste. Beer is no different in this aspect, beer also needs to be stored in the dark (or in brown bottles) to ensure it doesn’t degrade.
Wine Storage Overview:
We can’t all have wine cellars with temperature and humidity controls but by following these simple guidelines you can help ensure that you’ll maintain your wines taste for you and your guests to enjoy. Just remember: Constant temperature, near 55F – 60F if possible, avoid low humidity, and store your wine in the dark or at least covered.
I hope that helps you to understand the optimal wine storage conditions!