Not bad, although I would argue that 75 degrees is still too high.
In my young and poor days, my storage was in the 70s. It was fine for things that were consumed within a few years. I also wasn’t laying down much white or sparkling at the time. Some of the reds from that time were held longer and there seemed little effect of the early storage conditions. Maybe if Inhad tasted side by side with a bottle that had pristine storage the entire time, the differences would be pronounced but tasting it alone there were no signs.
Shouldn’t really matter for shorter term storage like a year or two. Certainly over several years one would likely notice advanced development over a 55° stored bottle.
We need to merge this thread with Tom Hill’s take that the article was a crock of shit.
No… don’t merge. This thread should stand alone for people who believe old wine turns to vinegar can post w/o being judged as being an idiot.
Tom
I think it may depend on the wine, too. Wines that are more prone to oxidation, like those based on grenache, might be more vulnerable at higher storage temperatures, I would guess. Cabernet, syrah, nebbiolo, perhaps less so.
And, if I read this abstract correctly, there is a risk of Brettanomyses multiplying at temperatures over 15C/59F.
Brettanomyces is a major threat to red wine quality, causing off-odors such as “medicinal,” “barnyard,” or even “sewage” during aging. Although sulfites (SO2) are used to limit spoilage by these yeast cells, reduced storage temperatures may lessen SO2 requirements. To test this hypothesis, a 4 | 4 factorial experimental design with molecular SO2(mSO2) concentration (0.0, 0.2, 0.5, or 1.1 mg/liter) and storage temperature (22, 18, 15, or 10°C) was devised. Of three strains evaluated, B5 was the lone strain to regain culturability following exposure to 0.5 mg/liter mSO2 (18°C), whereas only F3 remained culturable in the absence of mSO2 at 10°C. Application of fluorescence microscopy using two different probes and quantitative PCR assays revealed only a 2-log reduction in metabolically active cells from wines with SO2 that were not culturable on nonselective media. Culturability in these wines eventually returned regardless of the concentration of mSO2 present. In addition, 4-ethylphenol production ceased upon addition of SO2. These findings provide additional support that Brettanomyces can enter a “viable-but-not-culturable” state upon exposure to sulfites. Given the diversity among strains, maintaining conditions of ≤15°C and ≥0.4 mg/liter mSO2 will help limit spoilage by Brettanomyces but will not lead to its complete eradication.
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My finished basement gets to ~75 during the summer and this is the first year I’m dealing with some overflow from my fridge. I’ve got fridge space for the age-worthy (and other good stuff that I’m not intending to age much longer) but hoping the overflow (which I’ve reserved for bottles to be consumed in the next year or two) will be ok in a dark basement cabinet for the summer
Of course this problem probably isn’t going away next year…
For people on this board, 75 degrees is too high.
But, for people who never age wine for more than a year or two (or at least don’t intend to store wine for more than a year or two), is it really a big deal. This is written in The Washington Post, not A View From the Cellar. Most people in the world have probably never had a wine that has not been filtered and fined.
He is telling people to put the wine in someplace that is dark and cooler - like a basement, not a kitchen or the garage. For a normal Joe, where would you have them put wine if they put the thermostat at 75 in the summer?
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Link?
I would advise the novice to buy a small stand alone chiller-say 12 bottles. See how it goes, if you need more storage, expand.
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i meant to your thread
Downstairs hallway or bedroom closet.
I have around 100 bottles-barely buy wine anymore. They are in my basement -which can get to 75F in the summer. Wines taste fine to all who drink them . And not worth the wxpensive of using a Eurocave nor 70 bottle wine fridge-which I do have . YMMV
Wines are mostly Napa Cab up to $150 FWIW.
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considering that a significant percentage of the readership of WaPo live in prewar housing - condos & coops, this is a germane article.
this is because apartments like that have two temperature settings: “witches’ tit” and “plasma”, with significant oscillation between the two. neither are friendly to wine.
A “constant 75 °F” to those apartment dwellers is like having a thermos inside a eurocave inside a styrofoam box for other people.
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I’ve always wanted to start a thread about this. Which are the types of wines that would do relatively worse without “perfect” storage?
It’s always been a bit of a dilemma in my mind. On one hand, say a Barolo or Bordeaux might be relatively less in need of perfect conditions. But on the other hand, it’s a wine you’re going to age a lot longer, so the difference in storage conditions might become more relevant.
I’ve always hesitated starting the thread, since I figure it will mostly just be everyone saying how they have everything in perfect storage, especially with a real names board and people buying and selling things.
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