Wine storage on a budget

[Julio]

Hi there

I am storing my wine in closed polystyrene boxes each with a small container of water inside. The boxes are in a storeroom which is semi-under the house with no walls receiving direct sun light. I estimate that the room temperature in this room ranges from about 15-19C depending on the season. I would expect that the boxes being insulated would give less variation.

Obviously I am storing my wine at the warmer end of the spectrum... will this result in my wine matruing quicker or actually going bad (or both)? Am I deluding myself that small containers of water in my boxes will aid humidity?

Cheers

[Mahmoud Ali]

The temperature range of 15-19 is a bit high. Your wines will mature faster than if the wines were at the "ideal" cellar temperature but I don't think they will go off. More important is if the temperature remains constant day and night., no swings between midday and midnight, a constant 15 during winter, slowly rising to a constant 19 during summer. If there are temperature swings during the day then it is a risky proposition, especially for the more expensive wines that are likely to be more fragile to bad storage. It is odd but hthere have been a number of instances where cheap wines poorly stored ahve turned out to be surprisingly good.

I don't think the water containers in the styrofoam container will do any harm, and unless you plan to keep the wines a very long time I think you are alright. Good luck.

Cheers..............Mahmoud Ali

[Red Bigot]

Julio, if you only get 4C variation year-round, at 15-19 your cellar is probably satisfactory for 10 year cellaring of reds (where the reds are suitable for such cellaring). Maturation speed will obviously be a litle bit quicker than at 12-14C. There are plenty of Canberra passive cellars with wider ranges than that where the relevant wines happily cellar at least that long without fading prematurely.

Get an electronic max/min thermometer hygrometer and find out for sure about the temp range and humidity in the boxes. Cost probably less than $50 these days at Dick Smith etc.

[Julio]

Thanks for that. My temp variation is year round and I expect the polystyrene would prevent violent fluctuations in temp. I am going to live overseas next year for about 2-3 years... I may buy a cheaper model wine fridge to store my more precious stuff.

[bacchaebabe]

Julio, that's pretty close to the temps in my cellar. Even with my whisperkool on during summer, it usually gets up to about 20 degrees during the 36 degree days of February. The main thing is that it's a slow rise and a slow return back to around 15 which is my mid winter temp with no cooling. All my wine has been in there for six years now but prior to that it was in professional storage.

I'm now starting to drink a lot of ten year old reds and they've all been fine. It's obviously not perfect but it's pretty bloody good. Even the ones that I bought prior to starting the professional storage and were stored in my dining room under less than ideal (but not truly awful) conditions are all pretty good still. I think wine is a lot hardier than most people give it credit for. As long as it's not next to an oven or in a room that is heated and cooled and has vast temperature changes daily, you should be OK. Stable temperatures is the most important thing rather than yearly variation.

[Shiraz Slave]

Hi There,
I have just finished insulating the area under my stairwell with 40mm polyurathane sheets and covering it with 6mm MDF panels. I also did the same for the floor but covering it with 12mm MDF. I haven't yet been able to test the temp/hum as the door has not been finished. I think the biggest problem will be the humidity being to low so if you guys have any ideas to solve this I would love to hear them.

Cheers

[Daryl Douglas]

Hi There,
I have just finished insulating the area under my stairwell with 40mm polyurathane sheets and covering it with 6mm MDF panels. I also did the same for the floor but covering it with 12mm MDF. I haven't yet been able to test the temp/hum as the door has not been finished. I think the biggest problem will be the humidity being to low so if you guys have any ideas to solve this I would love to hear them.

Cheers

The reason that humidity is important..............well, it'll become less so with producers increasingly moving to stelvin and other more reliable closures than cork. Constant or slowly varying temperatures are much more important. At the 14C +/- 2C temperatures appropriate for extended cellaring humidity is less important. The absorbtion of moisture into the air of the storage space at these temperatures is naturally low anyway.

If you plan to cellar lots of cork-sealed Grange or similar top-of-range wines for 20 years it may be an issue. Guess it also depends on how dry the climate normally is where you live, but the room itself should create some of it's own humidity from the atmosphere outside it due to being cooler inside - unless it's going to be hermetically sealed.

daz

[MerlotWine]

Since the temperature in your wine storage facility is a bit high, I'm sure that your wines will mature a bit faster. As long as teh temperature is not much higher than that, the chances of spoiling your wine are almost null.

[Red Bigot]

Hi There,
I have just finished insulating the area under my stairwell with 40mm polyurathane sheets and covering it with 6mm MDF panels. I also did the same for the floor but covering it with 12mm MDF. I haven't yet been able to test the temp/hum as the door has not been finished. I think the biggest problem will be the humidity being to low so if you guys have any ideas to solve this I would love to hear them.

Cheers

It depends on how big the area is, one trick is to have a bucket (or 2) full of water with a towel (or 2) in the water and hanging down over the edge of the bucket to act as a wick and allow more evaporation.

In my cellar in summer the standard domestic split unit aircon sucks out the moisture and I run an evaporative cooler in there to keep the humidity up.

[winetastic]

Can anyone offer suggestions on where to obtain polystyrene boxes?

I am looking to improve my storage in a somewhat underground room, it is a short term measure.

[Red Bigot]

Can anyone offer suggestions on where to obtain polystyrene boxes?

I am looking to improve my storage in a somewhat underground room, it is a short term measure.

Try vegetable markets and pet shops that stock fish, Ric usually has an excess at his shop.

[Gavin Trott]

Just off the top of the head

If, and its still if, stelvin wines age more slowly than cork wines, and some think TOO slowly, the slightly higher temperatures, even a little variation, may be good for development?

[tbcha1]

if your looking for polystyrene boxes go ask people working in the fresh fruit and veg dept at coles or safeway/woolsworth. They usually have a few boxes which they throw out anyways

[Shiraz Slave]

Hi,
Thanks Daz and Brian for your reply's. The size of the area would be about 5m3 so it is pretty small. I like the idea about buckets of water as no cost is involved. I will give it a try and let you know how it goes.

Cheers
Dave

P.S Hey Brian, I am really happy with RB's cellar master. Thanks heaps.

[TORB]

I have a squillion styro boxes that I am always trying to give away. They breed faster than rabbits in my shop.

[Michael McNally]

Just off the top of the head

If, and its still if, stelvin wines age more slowly than cork wines, and some think TOO slowly, the slightly higher temperatures, even a little variation, may be good for development?

Gavin

Interesting point you raise. The logical next step will be people creating artificial fluctuations in temperature to "develop" their wines . All you would need is a reverse cycle aircon. Why wait 20 years for those tertiary characteristics in a good wine - do it in 12 months!! Now that would be a way to undercut the secondary market.

Michael

[Marque_01]

I bought a wine case from storage in Lota when I was on industrial trip to Lota. It automatically adjusts its temperature settings and generally sets between 10-12.