Americans are drinking more wine now than they did 20 years ago and taking more interest in finding and collecting premium wines. The American Society of Appraisers (ASA) highlights tips on how consumers can collect and maintain the value of their wines.

"Wine drinking has become a popular beverage choice in this country," said William Edgerton, ASA, accredited senior wine appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers (ASA). "The selection and tastes for wine are more developed and Americans' expectations of wine have increased," Edgerton said.

In fact, California wine sales in the U.S. reached another record high of 441 million gallons last year with a retail value of $16.5 billion, according to wine industry consultant Jon Fredrikson of Woodside and publisher of the Gomberg-Fredrikson Report.

Furthermore, a Gallup poll showed that wine had tied with beer as America's most preferred alcoholic beverage citing growth trends from several different demographic groups. The popularity of the hit movie Sideways continued to lift the public's interest in wine, particularly in Pinot Noir from California.

An accredited senior appraiser with ASA and a graduate of Dartmouth College, Edgerton has been appraising wine for 30 years. His lifelong interest in fine wines is augmented by his 480-volume wine reference library. He has also compiled the world's largest wine sales database that contains over 800,000 entries, while publishing part of that database annually from 1989 to 1999 as the Wine Price File, the largest available listing of retail and wine auction prices in print. He has built a handsome collection of 4,000 wines in his wine cellar and offers some tips on collecting wines and maintaining their value.

Edgerton offers the following tips for consumers.

0. Research – Find a wine retailer that understands your interests and is reasonably informed.

0. Read – Educate yourself on understanding wine.

0. Storage – Think about where you want to store your wine. You should not store wine in a room above 77 degrees. A chemical change occurs in wine after 77 degrees that will have a negative impact on the quality of the wine. It is suggested to keep the wine in a cool place. For those without basements, try keeping the wine on the floor of a dark closet.

0. Taste – Develop words to use for the flavors you find in wine so you will be able to make a specific statement rather than just saying, "That's good."

0. Value – How do you know how much a wine is worth? For instance, a bottle of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild Bordeaux could be purchased for $39.95 in 1984. In 2006, that same bottle of wine is priced at about $900. Several factors go into the value of wine. If you're researching retail values, try www.winesearcher.com for retail price information on more than 10,000 wines. For investors looking for auction prices rather than retail prices, go to www.wineauctionprices.com. The site can provide price details based on vintage, bottle size, auction size, date, lot price and bottle price. For example, it demonstrates how a bottle of 2000 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild of Bordeaux can be researched by utilizing the above categories, as well as auction houses located around the world including, Amsterdam, Chicago, Geneva, London, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.

Edgerton also suggests that vintage dates are of primary importance. Some years for making wine are better than others, based on weather conditions and temperature. Once you find a wine you like in a retail store, buy more of it right away. Don't wait to buy it later. If it's a good wine from a good vintage or if it's highly rated, it could be sold out quickly. Compare different bottles of wine, take notes on what you liked and disliked about its flavor and use these notes to make decisions about your next purchase. With 50,000 new wines from all over the world each year, wine collectors need to do their homework.

There are courses available about wine collecting and wine tastings from community colleges across the country. Members of the American Society of Wine Educators also provide information and instruction about wine collecting.

To learn more about caring for your valuables or to find an appraiser near you, log on to www.appraisers.org/consumers.