Glamis Castle and wine storage temperature

[LColhouer]

Barry is correct, of course, in that a lower temp is going to reduce humidity for most of us. Choose your poison.

I run my cellar at 52F (again, that balance between desired temp and desired humidity) primarily because I store a very large inventory of white wines (in addition to reds) that I have on the extended aging program.

[Tom_Blach]

I’d be interested to know what proportion of serious American cellars are kept at this sort of temperature, because I always have the impression with young wines that American bottles seem to show a year or so ahead, maybe something to do with their initial voyage.
I have the probably foolish feeling that bottles like to go up and down in temperature with the seasons just a little, so I would probably change settings slightly throughout the year.

[Claude_Kolm]

@Tom Blach

I’d be interested to know what proportion of serious American cellars are kept at this sort of temperature, because I always have the impression with young wines that American bottles seem to show a year or so ahead, maybe something to do with their initial voyage.

I think that’s the shipping, Tom, because it already shows when the wines are very young.

For everyone, I keep asking and receiving no reply: why aren’t the 2001s and 2002s that sat in hot cellars and warehouses in Europe over the summer of 2003 spoiled?

[LColhouer]

@Claude Kolm

@Tom Blach

…For everyone, I keep asking and receiving no reply: why aren’t the 2001s and 2002s that sat in hot cellars and warehouses in Europe over the summer of 2003 spoiled?

I was concerned about this early on and agree that widespread spoilage has not materialized. However, that is not to say that there is not accelerated maturity of these wines that would become more evident over time. I had most of my 01s in hand by May of 03, for which I was grateful when the summer heat wave hit. I’ve not tasted any side-by-side with bottles that were exported from France after the summer. The 02s are a different matter and a source of more concern. Time will indeed tell.

[John_Danza]

I’m a little short on knowledge on the wines that came out of Glamis, so I may say something incorrect.

The only wine that’s gotten a lot of press that came out of Glamis was the 40 magnums of 1870 Lafite. The freshness of those bottles would not be a good judge of whether or not the temperature of Glamis’s cellar resulted in the quality of those bottles. The 1870 Lafite has been legendary for its staying power for decades. Articles by Andre Simon in the 1930s indicate that it was still extremely young and almost undrinkable. These were bottles coming out of a variety of English cellars, so it speaks to the qualities of the wine moreso than the storage conditions.

Are there other Glamis wines that were considered generally fresher than the same wines coming out of other cellars?

[Mark_Thompson]

Bumping one of Alan’s old threads as it relates to a subject I’ve been thinking about. Given that much of my wine collection is already at or slightly past the prime drinking window (mostly auction sourced so not the original purchaser), I’m considering keeping my home cellar in the 40’s when it is finished in the next couple of months. I would then continue to keep wines that need more time in my 55/70 offsite facility.

Many of us have heard the Glamis story, which served as my initial inspiration. I also read an interview with Lou Kapcsándy where he talked about keeping two cellars: one at 55F for further aging and one at 45F for wines that were far enough along.

This raises a few questions. Alan has another decade since the thread to perhaps weigh in with more developed datapoints. Does anyone else have experience trying this?

My cellar would then be too cold to comfortably hang out in for extended periods of time. I wonder if temperature variation would be much of an issue if I cranked it up to a balmy 55F once in a while if I’m working in there or drinking with a buddy or whatever?

This is obviously something I will experiment with, but I’m wondering if it will be more difficult to maintain “optimum” humidity (assuming that matters given some of the cork research that has been discussed here). I’m inclined to err on the side of conventional wisdom at roughly 70% without definitive proof.

[David_Glasser]

Mark, “at or past its prime drinking window” is an individual thing. If you’ve made this determination based on someone else’s drinking windows, open some and see what you think. Taking your meaning at face value, dropping the temps to 40 degrees F to put the wines in suspended animation makes sense. I wouldn’t worry about turning the temp up to 55F for a few hours at a time if you want to spend time in the cellar.

I also wouldn’t worry about humidity as long as it stays above 45-50%.

[Mark_Thompson]

Thanks David, and good point on the drinking windows. I like them on the backside (and often 5-10+ years beyond) the CT windows, so that is already factored in. I may compromise with something colder than 55, but not significantly colder—maybe 48-50. That appears to have served Alan well and might buy me a few extra years if I’m lucky.

[K_John_Joseph]

@Keith Levenberg

I don’t care if my wine ages better if I won’t be able to enjoy it until I’m 80 years old. My most profound Burgundy experiences have all been 30-50 year old wines. That makes the ideal drinking window on my 2005s 2035-2055, when I’ll be 58-78. I suppose I can live with that but I haven’t any desire to slow it down further.

Nearly 80 to nearly 100 for me so ~ age 75 I’ll be opening a bottle monthly methinks…

This is why I store my burgs in an uninsulated cardboard box outside in my backyard in Texas. I assume the increased temp of about 102 degrees most afternoons during the summer will expedite the aging process, allowing me to have a 30-50 year old burg experience in about 1.6 years after release. Just began about 16 months ago. Will report back soon.