I store about 90% of what I own in my basement at home in a closet that I ripped out and racked for wine storage…maybe 300 bottles or so. I don’t keep anything here that requires long term storage, so it’s mostly wine that I will most likely drink within a 3-year window. It always stays about 63 degrees and the humidity was usually at about 68%…WAS being the operative word here.
About 2 months ago, we had a sump pump failure and a minor flood in our basement. It took about a week to dry the basement out, and I immediately moved the wine out and into an unused room in the house before the guys started working. I moved the wine back down when everything was done, but we discovered that there was a ton of moisture still in the basement and had to use a dehumidifier for a couple of weeks. Everything seems back to normal, however in the last two days the corks on the three wine bottles that I’ve opened have crumbled on me. Not completely mind you, but the top 1/3 of the corks have fallen apart. The oldest was a '95 Delille and the newest was a 2005 Tablas Creek, so these aren’t old wines by any means.
I’m panicking now, because it seems clear that this is due to the fluctuation in humidity. I had a perfect setup for the last 5 years, and the basement must be too dry now. My question is, can the corks recover from this by simply creating a more humid environment? If I get a small humidifier and run it for a few days to get the humidity back to where I need it, will it reverse the process or simply head off any further drying of the corks?
If you had a humidity related issue, it would be mold or mildew on labels. Crumbly corks happened long before and usually because of not enough humidity.
The issue I’m worried about isn’t too much humidity, it’s not enough. It was so humid after the remediation, that we had to run two dehumidifiers constantly for a couple of weeks. I’m afraid that we took it too far, and the basement is now much drier now than it’s ever been.
Kent, I wouldn’t worry. The top of the corks will reabsorb the humidity when it returns to normal. Also the cork is completely soaked on the inside. Relax and wait a few weeks or months.
How long would wine need to be exposed then, before the corks became noticeably dry? Months? Years? I’m certainly no expert on this, but it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that I’ve been battling humidity down there and have pulled crumbles from three straight bottles.
I think it’s just coincedence, or some other cause. My own passive wines have gone through months of dry periods, then quite humid months, for years, with no ill effects. I’ve experienced dry corks a few times on bottles straight from a retail shelf where they were stored standing up, and in those cases the corks were just dry and rock hard, not crumbly at all.
On wines that young, crumbly corks, especially at the top, would suggest to me a defect in the cork to begin with!
Thanks guys. That helps to get my blood pressure back down to normal! I’ll write it off as a coincidence I guess, although it still seems a bit unsettling given the circumstances.
Knowing a ton from cigars… a ton of humidity into a cork will have a much greater immediate effect (expanding/potentially causing external mold) than a short fall away from it. Given that what you’re describing is the exact opposite effect, either they were just doomed from the start or your humidity monitoring is way off. Since one was a 2005, I find that highly unlikely.
Kent - what the others said. A cork doesn’t suddenly dry out, nor does it suddenly absorb moisture. They would be useless if they did.
Not only that, go into your nearest wine store and take a look around. Check some medium-expensive bottles - those are usually not stored in anyplace special, nor are they case-stacked at the front. Make a note as to where the bottles are and what they are. If nobody minds, even make a little pencil mark somewhere on a bottle and go back in a few months. It’s probably still going to be there. Before it got there, it was in some warehouse, maybe for months. Your situation is probably better than most stores and most warehouses.
Open to all: I have several bottles in which the cork is totally enclosed in wax. Why isn’t the cork shielded from humidity changes in those instances?
You mean the neck is dipped in wax? That will prevent the cork from drying out if the bottle is stored in a dry environment, though I think years in a desert might be too much of a test! A metal foil capsule also keeps the cork from drying out, but these often have a few small holes in them which would allow some slow evaporation…