The 1999 Dom Perignon Heat Damage Challenge - The Results

[brigcampbell]

Not trying to cast shade, and I tend to agree that wine is more resilient than many of us think. But you gotta love these experiments with an N= 1 and no controls.

I think the only conclusion we can draw is that Brig likes heat-damaged wine.

Ha ha.

[Craig_G]

Not trying to cast shade, and I tend to agree that wine is more resilient than many of us think. But you gotta love these experiments with an N= 1 and no controls.

I think the only conclusion we can draw is that Brig likes heat-damaged wine.

Ha ha.

Just sayin’

[brigcampbell]

“Clearly - wine is significantly more stable than most people believe and the threat of heat damage is vastly overstated.”

I’m going to offer this post not to be argumentative, but to just provide a counterpoint. It would be unfortunate if anyone from this really simple experiment drew the conclusion that temperatures don’t matter when you store wine.

I have no experience with this kind of experiment with champagne. However, I have extensive experience with the same experiment with all sorts of red wine. If that bottle had been a good 2000 Pauillac, and if you tasted it side-by-side with another of the same bottle stored properly, there’s no doubt in my mind it would be very obvious that one was stored differently than the other.

My guess, and I obviously can’t prove it, is that had you compared it to a similar 1999 DP, you would’ve observed differences between the two wines.

Again, I have no desire to argue and I am not trying to be a jerk. I’m just trying to prevent someone from making a mistake and thinking that their coat closet is an acceptable place to store fine wine for many years.

All that said, I’m happy that this one worked out for you.

I totally agree, J. While the bottle sounded drinkable, the references to caramel indicated to me that it probably wasn’t quite as fresh as a bottle that was stored under ideal conditions would be. I believe that the threat of heat damage exists all along the pipeline, and for anyone who wants to age wine, the best thing to do is know your sources and keep the wine as well stored as you can throughout its life.

I think your conclusion about the caramel note might be a stretch. See others perspective from CT, caramel seems to be a theme in the 1999 vintage. I saw nothing in my bottle that indicated it showed any different than a well stored bottle.

1999 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon, France, Champagne -...

[T_Melloni]

Brig - heat issues aside. You bought this wine for a celebration of the 21st birthday of Carly, your goddaughter. And for many years, you stored said wine in a closet, waiting, presumably, for the day that Carly would turn 21years of age, which, in America is a pretty big deal. But then you drank it with “Kim, Chris, Rosie and Taylor.”
Wtf? Dude. You didn’t share it with Carly?

[brigcampbell]

LOL Carly was there.

[David_Glasser]

I don’t doubt that it was a thoroughly enjoyable bottle, Brig, and appreciate the report. But I don’t think your experience is necessarily generalizable to a wider audience.

With N=1 and no control, there’s insufficient data to reach any conclusion other than this bottle was fine on its own and offered great drinking pleasure. Which is what this is all about.

I’ve done blind and non-blind comparisons over a number of years with 3 cases of 1983 Prieure Lichine. Half stored in my father’s passive basement (~65-75 degree annual swings) vs. half stored in my temp-controller cellar (55-57 degrees) for the first 10 years of its life, then all stored in my cellar. Most comparisons showed the passive bottles to be more advanced. Not damaged, and not noticeably different if not tasted side by side on the same day.

Still a small sample size. My conclusion: it makes a difference. Not a huge one for a sturdy Bordeaux.

Other experiences with 1988 Climens purchased on release vs. secondary market and tasted both side by side and individually suggest it makes a bigger difference for less robust wines. I didn’t know the storage details of the secondary market purchase but most bottles were proclaimed wonderful by many experienced tasters when drunk in isolation. When paired with bottles I stored from release the difference in color and freshness was obvious. It was easy for me to tell without looking at the tag which batch a bottle was from by color alone.

I’ve never done this with Champagne but the party line is that it tends to be more sensitive to temperature than most. That said, your experience suggests we do obsess about temperature more than maybe we should.

[Karl_K]

I do believe wine generally speaking is sturdy enough to survive non-cellar temperatures but I also have found from experience (buying older wines from a wide array of sources over the past 25 years) that there is no substitute for properly cellaring wine.

It kind of goes to what you want to get out of it.

If you are going to buy 1990 Ausone, to pick an example, why wouldn’t you cellar it at the right conditions?

[Neal.Mollen]

I would be able to tell, but not something Neal Mollen could.

As to the topic at hand, ask yourself if every bottle of wine made, everywhere in the world, before, say, 1950, was heat damaged when consumed.

[brigcampbell]

As to the topic at hand, ask yourself if every bottle of wine made, everywhere in the world, before, say, 1950, was heat damaged when consumed.

That is an excellent observation which is probably why you made it.

[Cris_Whetstone]

Interesting. The bottle isn’t going to be prisitine and will likely show more development than normal, but it still might be okay. If the temperature graph you showed can be correlated over to the storage closet then things probably aren’t too bad. It looks like you have enough mass in the closet to keep the bottle temperature from any quick swings and my guess is the bottle fluctuated from the low 60s to the low 70s across the year. My first concern would be cork failure (losing the seal), but if the wine still has true effervesence and not just bubbles that briefly appear in suspension and then fade away then you made it across that hurdle. Color doesn’t look too bad either. Let us know.

Brad pretty much said what I would have going in and expanded on that. The rapid changes and spikes in temperature are to be feared the most.

Champagne corks tend to lose that bounce back with age. Not surprised a cork 20 years in stayed narrow.

Wine is more resilient than many want to believe. But keeping valuable bottles around the house that are meant to be aged 10 plus years does have risks. You are also shifting that aging timeline as others have noted. That wine you wanted to drink at 25 years might be best drank at 15 years under such conditions. You can’t really use the same drinking windows as others are.

Glad it was good though. I love Champagne with some secondary notes.

[Cris_Whetstone]

As to the topic at hand, ask yourself if every bottle of wine made, everywhere in the world, before, say, 1950, was heat damaged when consumed.

That doesn’t really follow unless every wine everywhere pre-1950 was stored in a warmish climate for 20 plus years prior to consumption. He’s talking about a 20 year old bottle of Dom P. Most people drink their bottles closer to release. Also, the current parameters people use for cellaring wine in terms of temperature and humidity come from typical underground cellars from wineries in Europe. Because wines known to age well were stored in those or at least in cellars below peoples homes and castles, etc. People were not listening to wine collectors that stored their wines for decades in closets in warmer climates because those people were outliers if they existed at all. Chances are most people that did have had poor experiences.

[Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m]

For the folks claiming “N = 1” here, you all must have missed where Brig said he’s never had a(n apparently) heat-damaged bottle from this storage. Sounds like N > 1.

That said, I will continue storing my wines in the 50s.

[Marshall_Manning]

As to the topic at hand, ask yourself if every bottle of wine made, everywhere in the world, before, say, 1950, was heat damaged when consumed.

That doesn’t really follow unless every wine everywhere pre-1950 was stored in a warmish climate for 20 plus years prior to consumption. He’s talking about a 20 year old bottle of Dom P. Most people drink their bottles closer to release. Also, the current parameters people use for cellaring wine in terms of temperature and humidity come from typical underground cellars from wineries in Europe. Because wines known to age well were stored in those or at least in cellars below peoples homes and castles, etc. People were not listening to wine collectors that stored their wines for decades in closets in warmer climates because those people were outliers if they existed at all. Chances are most people that did have had poor experiences.

I was going to say the same thing, Chris. If you’ve ever been in cellars in the Loire, Burgundy, Rhone, Germany, Piedmont, etc., they are quite cool and probably never get over 60 degrees even in the summertime.

[Karl_K]

FWIW I have bought Dom P from unverified storage and it showed fine. It’s just that for the most part I choose not to do that anymore. And I am very glad that all the wines are doing well for Brig.

[Alex_N]

That closet makes me nervous. I hope those wines all turn out well. Any specific reason you don’t spring for a wine fridge? I don’t have room for one so I use off site, and my collection is about 1/2 of yours.

[Jim_F]

For the folks claiming “N = 1” here, you all must have missed where Brig said he’s never had a(n apparently) heat-damaged bottle from this storage. Sounds like N > 1.

That said, I will continue storing my wines in the 50s.

Ok, ok, I get that but N = 1 was easier to say than starting a conversation about statistical significance