wine cooler ruined all my wine?

So… every wine that we open, lately, tastes exactly the same. And not in a good way. A somewhat vinegary finish. The wine cooler is a ULINE single zone 50 bottle unit. It fluctuates from 59 degrees to 47.8 degrees several times a day(I use 2 temperature gauges). I know the following wines aren’t anything you guys drink, but after 6-7 months in my wine cooler, they all taste like cheap box wines from the 90’s: Prisoner, Machete, Caymus -alcohol and vinegar. I don’t know what is going on. If I open a fresh bottle of wine from the store, it tastes fine. If it is one that has been in my cooler for a few months, it tastes terrible. My concern is not from the syrupy wines, but the bedrockss, beau freres, chateau de pape, cantemerle, quintessa, dom perrignone, and tignello wines that may be bad from being stored in that cooler. Is my wine cooler ruining wines? Am I supposed to do something different after I open wines once they have been in the cooler for a few months - vs the fresh ones that I get from the store? I am at a loss and afraid I have lost a couple thousand dollars worth of wines ( I know- small pennies comparatively). I have my allotment of bedrock coming in in october and I don’t know what I should do. Any advice would be appreciated.

edit: Nothing I have in there has been in it longer than July 2018.

I think you’re tastes are changing. Don’t blame the cooler.

I would be curious about the LIQUID temperature and not the AIR temperature, as it should fluctuate much less. Even so, in that temperature range, I don’t think a cooler is capable of killing wines that quickly.

I threw a bottle of alpha omega 2 squared in it to check out how it tastes after a month. the vinegar taste is concerning.

+1

I don’t know if you’ve had the flu, or eaten (bad) pine nuts or if you’re on any medications. But those can all make wines taste nasty.

You said “we,” suggesting you have a regular drinking companion. Does she/he/they have the same reaction?

And how were the wines treated prior to being put in the cooler.

Yes… my wife is the one that really likes wines like prisoner, etc. the last couple of weeks we have poured out, easily, 4 bottles of wine because they tasted terrible. Tonight she opened a prisoner and it tasted terrible. So, we immediately opened another that she liked - 2015 machete - there wasn’t a discernible difference between the wines. Which, I found odd. They both tasted bad - not the usual syrup bomb that they are. So, we opened a 2016 Caymus. It was meh/okay. Not the usual flavor that I am used to from that brand. It wasn’t the super syrupy flavor that you normally get. it was nearly flavorless. IT just didn’t have the vinegar bit the other two had at the end of a sip.

ALSO, the scent I get from all of them is mushroom. I don’t know what the eff that is about.

I’m stumped.

All of the wines have gone from the store straight in to the cooler. Except my bedrocks, and Chateau de pape. Those were shipped to me, then put directly in to the cooler. I haven’t popped those open to check them. But based on the others, I am not encouraged.

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The temperatures you have reported will not ruin wine.

Very strange.

Store bought wine tastes fine, so we won’t blame you or your palate. I hope I read your experience correctly. That’s crucial.

Yet, the store bought wine probably faced far greater travails a of temperature and conditions.

If only a month in your unit turned your Alpha Omega into “vinegar,” that is weird. You could pretty much torture a wine for a month and never see this “vinegar” profile.

I am at a loss.

Can you describe more of your experience?

If you are drinking those reds at less than 50 degrees they probably do taste muted and off. This of course assumes the low end of your temp probes.

How long are you letting them come back up to room temp? I used to keep my opened reds in the fridge overnight and drink them cold on day 2. Inevitably I would think it lost all life and I always wondered how people could get a wine to survive two or three days. Turns out I was just drinking it too cold. Maybe not your issue, but I hope it is since it would be an easy fix to just take your bottles out an hour before you plan to consume.

TW

Good point. Well described and well written.

It was my understanding that frequent temperature change is not good for wines. Especially if it is fluctuating 11-12 degrees. It is probably changing temp every 30 mins or so.

No mold?

I put an alpha omega in there to test. I am 2 weeks out from testing that one to see if it is ruined.

We do have a lot of natural light that is in our kitchen. Would Sunlight ruin wine in a few months?

That is correct. I reset my thermometer 2 hours ago. within the last 2 hours it has gone from 59 to 47 degrees.

Not that I know of. I changed from just buying a bottle to drink, to trying to collect wines in July 2018. So, nothing I have was purchased before then. I am wondering if I need to add water to the cooler via a bowl. are the corks drying out fast?

I would concur with Eric. Although the liquid temp is what is most important, air temps that you have described would be very unlikely to harm your wines, especially over a period of months rather than years.

Colin

My eurocave only changes 1 degrees all day long and compressor turns on every 90 mins.

Sunlight and even home lights can damage wines from what I read but I don’t think they can damage your wines this fast? Are they getting a lot of light?