The Auswine Forum

Hi I'm new here so wondering if anyone could share some advice.

I have several cases of Penfolds 386, 407 and st Henris bought many years ago. They are all around the 95 and 96 years.

They have all been kept just beneath stair case over these years at room temperature - I am from Brisbane so temperature from anywhere between 12 in winter nights to 25 in summer days. Not the best storage environment but still is generally cool, dry and out of the sun.

I have recently bought a big wine fridge to store some wines purchased recently however there is still more space in the fridge.

My question is while i will be starting to drink & gift those 95/96 wines - i plan to have them all drunk or gifted within the next year or so - is there a point of moving those wines into the wine fridge in the time being?

I mean they have already been kept under the staircase for the last 15 years (if they have been damaged due to high heat it would have happened already) will there still be any point moving them into proper fridge storage for say the next 12 months until they are drunk?

Many thanks!

Storage related damage can occur at any time, and high temps can begin effecting quality within hours. I would definitely put some of them away in the fridge.

May may an interesting experiment to see the difference after a year in different storage conditions.

25 is quite a high temperature too - anything above 18 or 19 you are starting to run the gauntlet a bit.

Chances are they are probably cooked, but the best way to find out is to pull the cork on one of each and try them.

I would certainly put them in the wine fridge, as at least then they will be at the right tempeature to drink them. Room tempeature reds on a summer's day in Brisbane are not nearly as enjoyable as one served at 18 degrees.

Be really interesting to see how they are after all those years of average storage. Please come back and let us all know.

And if you need someone to help you drink them, the Brissie offline crew would be glad to help

Cheers
Ian

First - if you really believe that your understairs storage has never got above 25, you need to invest in a thermometer. I am also in Brisbane, had a similar storage spot half underground in the back of the garage, also believed it never got out of the mid 20s - and it got to 34 degrees one summer. That spot has now been built in and cooled to 16-18 degrees for about 10 years now.

There is a high risk the wines will be cooked - but wine can be surprisingly resilient. I agree with Ticklenow - open a couple and see how they are travelling.

Andrew

Drink up and hopefully you fill find some good ones. Or gift to some "label" drinkers that you don't like!

May I suggest the tried and tested solution for this situation: send the wine to auction? Then take the money, call Gavin, and ask how much Marius you can get for your cash.

simon1980

they will be stuffed

Thanks guys for the input.

I think I will try a few bottles and see and fridge the rest - can drink them at cool temperatures at least.

Also will gift or invite friends to drink that know the labels but aren't too experienced with what tastes good and what doesn't : )

I think they'll mostly be fine. They're big wines to begin with. Not everything could have been burned off them yet.

I think they should be ok, don't gift the 96s.