Heat Wave Poses Risk to Fine Wine Collections
Record temperatures baking the Northeast may cause serious damage to unprotected collections of fine wine, which need cool, constant temperatures to ensure proper development and aging.
When exposed to high temperatures, even for brief periods of time, expensive wine collections may become permanently impaired. Wine auction-goers and auction professionals agree that a wine’s provenance -- i.e. where and how the wine has been stored -- is the most critical consideration in determining the value of old, rare and valuable wine.
The following conditions are considered to be critically important when storing and aging fine wine:
- Constant temperature in the range of 55 – 60 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal for the biochemical development that occurs as wine matures;
- Humidity in the range of 50 – 70% is required to keep corks from drying out without damaging bottle labels and allowing mold to grow;
- Protection from UV rays which can penetrate bottles and cause tannins to oxidize;
- Clean, odor-free air that won’t taint the flavor or bouquet of the wine; and
- Minimal vibration which can disrupt the aging process
Wine collectors can protect their investments by storing their valuable wine collections in refrigerated wine cellars.
posted by Ben @ 9:38 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I have a GE mini fridge
Have Kuleto, Suncee and other Napa and Sonoma wines in this fridge
I have a small thermometer inside and the fridge is in a garage.
Temperature has flucuated between 47 to 55
Is that alright
thank oyu
Ben,
Concerning wine storage
There is some vibration as my furnace is in the garage.
The fridge is by the garage door
and for instance today with outside temperature in CT at 25 degrees
the fridge in garage (wireless thermometer shows @ 47.5 degrees)
The wine has been in the fridge since 2005
thank you
Hi, thanks for the inquiry. The air temperature variation of 8 degrees is more than what we consider to be ideal. We like to see air temperatures that stay in a 5 degree range, which results in liquid temperature variation of less than 1/2 degree. Incidentally, your temperature range is very cold. Most customers and experts agree that wine should be stored anywhere between 55 to 60 degrees. You'll definitely want to eliminate vibration from the cellar. If you can't or don't want to move the fridge from its current location, you might consider placing rubber pads under the leveling feet to reduce the vibration caused by the furnace and the garage door. Finally, we've found that the biggest problem with wine fridges is that they don't maintain optimal humidity levels, so if you keep your wine for more than a couple of years, you'll definitely want to check the RH and, if below 50%, you probably will need to consider cellars that maintain temperature and humidity at appropriate levels.
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