Help with cooling and storage

Hey everyone! This is my first post and I found this place through wine cooler research newhere

I’ve always enjoyed wine but recently I’m in a much better (financial) place to REALLY enjoy wine. My H and I just redid our kitchen, which including knocking down a wall to join our hearth room to the kitchen space. For various reasons we didn’t put the wine cooler in the kitchen but always planned on a “Phase II” for the hearth room which included a wine cooler, beverage center and cabinets for liquor (aka, a bar area). I’m struggling with making a decision over what to get. Through my research, it seems Eurocave is pretty rock solid.

We have roughly 6-6.5 feet of wall space to play with. I was thinking of the Eurocave Premier Wine and Beverage Center (through Wine Enthusiast), although the downside is that the wine portion only goes to 50 degrees. Great for storing, but not serving. As a workaround, I could switch some of the whites to down below, assuming I think ahead to move them. The only other good option I could come up with would be to get a “normal” Eurocave Premier and then a separate beverage center. The downside to that is my H has a decent bourbon collection and I don’t think his collection + all of our other liquor would fit in a 2’ cabinet.

Other factors: while I only have 39 bottles now, I plan on really amping up my collection. Beverage center is non-negotiable. I don’t have off-site wine storage where I live. I do have a basement, but it’s not optimal for long-term (expensive) wine storage as it’s between 58-63 degrees but only around 40% humidity. Any thoughts or other suggestions?

Debbie, welcome. A couple of thoughts. First, a Eurocave where the ‘wine portion’ (whatever that means) only gets down to 50 degrees is perfect. For most people, serving temp should be warmer than that, the only possible exceptions are Champagne and wines that are too bad to drink without chilling the hell out of them. YMMV.

Second, your basement sounds great for long term passive storage. Your temperature range is perfect, and temp is far more important than humidity.

Hi chuck, I am also new to this forum and want to know how to keep my wine. I inherited a bunch of wine and champagne from a relative that passed away.
I dont know if I will keep all of it as I dont have the space ( I live in NYC area and not big apt) and I dont know if the champagne should be stored in the refrigerator u til serving for it to not degrade or change) and if the red wine and champagne should be stored in the same area if the wine was to be stored , say like my friends cellar) . i might change apartment so keeping all the bottles and moving it as little as possible should be ok if the temperature is at least 55 for long term storage? Is thete anything a newbie should beware of in storage? any info would be much appreciated.

First, don’t get too hung up on this. All types of wine should be stored in cool, dark conditions (red, white, sparkling). As long as your temperature doesn’t exceed 70 degrees, you are fine for medium term storage. Longer term, strive for under 60, with 55 considered ideal. If you prefer your whites or sparkling wines to be a little cooler when consumed, simply put them in the fridge for a little while. Then enjoy, with a toast to your late relative.

Thank you chuck! I felt a bit discouraged when reading some posts on this forum because I am very new to wine. Was hoping that i could develop it to the common denominator between my siblings who already know wine, but talking and asking them comes with an air of snobbery lol. So thank you for your info. Right now I have them on shelf in basement which is about 60 degrees to 65 because there is no heating there. I was thinning of asking a friend to hold some because they built themselves a cellar. Do you think long term for 65 is bad? Does it change the taste? I only had it down there for less than 5 days. Literally just thrusted into wine. Lol. Thank you!!

Long term at 65 will not ruin your wine. It may age slightly faster, but even an experienced taster is unlikely to notice any difference, unless tasting a pristinely stored bottle side by side. Of course, this advice assumes the wine is good to start with.

Out of curiosity, how many bottles did you inherit? How old are they? If you list a few examples with vintage, producer, and wine name you can get some better feedback on where to go from here.

Hi chuck, I inherited about 90 bottles, which i dont know if that is a lot or not, but for someone like me, thats a lot. . My brother recently claims he opened a bottle of 2010 opus one and it was in clumps probably due to his storage? Now he is a restauranteur and has more experience than I. But i dont want that to happen to me and. I started to check my wines and see if that could happen to me and my lot. How does that happen? My brother would keep his wine in a basement closet, while mine came from a cellar. Most of what i inherited is recent years, oldest bottle 1989 phelan segur and newest 2017 napas. And most of the napas are between 2010 to 2017. I was worried that if something could happen to my brother who knows more in food and wine than I, then it could happen to me! I have anywhere from Italian wines like tuscanos and barolos to mid range priced napas but it seems the napas were recently bought. Right now in new york, it just started snowing and for unheated basement, the temperature is 50 to 60 degrees. And alao, in my collection i have non vintage champagnes a d vintage champagnes? Like bollinger and krug and some French brands. Like few bottles of dom perignon … I put those in refrigerator. Just until I finalize some solid ides od storage.

Lisa, sounds as if you have a very nice selection of quality wines that can still age, and enough to last me about 3 months and you probably 3-5 years. Your temperature is fine. Not sure what is meant by ‘in clumps’, but my guess is the wine threw some sediment, which is normal for red wines with some age on them, especially for wines that are bottled with minimal or no filtering. You can avoid this by standing the bottle upright for a few days before opening, and decanting carefully, stopping as you get to the bottom of the bottle and you see sediment in the neck of the bottle. You end up wasting an ounce or so, but avoid gritty and bitter sediment in your glass. You can also pour the bottle thru a non-bleached coffee filter (clean).

Thank you Chuck, I’m still trying to figure out basic things and your advice helps very much. The clumpy wine I was referencing, was not mine but my brother. He claimed he opened a wine last month and that it was chunky and possibly sour? I was freaking out because I started to wonder why his wine would do that if he kept it in an okay place. And he didn’t need long term storage unit since he sold it at restaurant. Unfortunately when i pressed for more details, they told me nothing else. So I wasn’t there to witness such an occurrence and I’ve never heard of wine or alcohol going bad! So I was dumbfounded and figure people here could help me answer that question. Its like every little thing i learn from here, makes huge impact on how I approach this wine adventure. So really I’m so grateful. I figure my stand offish and estranged family wont help me more than the kind folks here!