Hey, Seth, welcome to the forum! You're in good company here.
I love the wine box for storage - some liquor bottles come in good-quality wooden boxes similar to that as well. The size is just about right for a small collection or for transporting a few decks you want to keep protected. For a collection the size of mine, though, I'd have to go though several cases of wine just to have enough boxes! I have something like 1,800 decks! As I no longer drink, I'd never have enough of those boxes, anyway...
It's not sacrilegious to open your decks - I do it all the time. The most popular pattern I've seen is one-and-one - you buy two decks; one for the collection, one for playing with. I don't always have that luxury, but I still open them anyway. To me, a deck left sealed in its box forever is akin to owning fine art and displaying it while it's still in the crate! The crate might be pretty and all that, but I'd hope you bought the "art" for more than just the container it came in.
Make yourself at home and if you have questions, please - ask away. We don't haze the newbies!
Feel free to poke around in (and add to!) the Magical Cardistry Bonanza board as well. It's less lively than the Playing Card Plethora, but it only takes a few interested people to turn it into a party!