The Auswine Forum

Hey all,

Just had a quick question about home wine storage:

Have a few good bottles at home, but no space, even for a 40 bottle wine fridge and wanted to ask if my conditions were suitable for medium-term cellaring?

I have a cupboard in the kitchen I have been monitoring with a hygrometer. In the middle of the day, at it's hottest and dryest it is 15.8 C and 53% humidity.

It does fluctuate in that it gets much colder overnight. My understanding is fluctuations are very bad, but most of the reasons I can find are that it is to do with corks expanding and contracting, but surely corks won't expand and contract appreciably in those conditions?

Try polystyrene boxes. They will help with the temperature fluctuations. Short of a wine fridge or something underground, they are your best bet (and quite cheap). Double wrap in newspaper and fill the box as much as you can.

Cheers
Ian

Or move to New Zealand, its colder there and the wine is better

Who's that walking on my bridge

dan_smee wrote:Hey all,

Just had a quick question about home wine storage:

Have a few good bottles at home, but no space, even for a 40 bottle wine fridge and wanted to ask if my conditions were suitable for medium-term cellaring?

I have a cupboard in the kitchen I have been monitoring with a hygrometer. In the middle of the day, at it's hottest and dryest it is 15.8 C and 53% humidity.

It does fluctuate in that it gets much colder overnight. My understanding is fluctuations are very bad, but most of the reasons I can find are that it is to do with corks expanding and contracting, but surely corks won't expand and contract appreciably in those conditions?

If it's 15.8 in winter, I shudder to think what it will be like during summer. Then again if heating is used (which I am assuming it is), then 15.8 is actually quite good.