Wine fridge temp

[Nick Wine Guy]

I'll be getting my new wine fridge delivered tomorrow and wanted to see what temp you guys recommend? It's dual temp but as I have much more red than white, I think I'll keep one temp across both. Most are screwcaps.

Also, anythuling to keep in mind for newer vs older bottles?

Thanks!

[sjw_11]

How long do you plan to keep the wines in the fridge for? For a medium term balance between energy usage and protecting the wine I have used 16o. If you plan to keep things in there for a very long-time maybe a bit colder- 14o should be fine. Interested to see if others have a different view.

[Luke W]

I find that at 12 degrees wine stays pretty static and doesn't develop much which is good if u are cellaring old wine but 16 to 18 degrees allows for maturation over a few years. I also compromise and keep the cellar at 14 degrees.

[Mike Hawkins]

12 or 13 for mine

[TiggerK]

13-14C for mine. As others have said, closer to 10 will slow development, while 16+ will accelerate it a little bit. It's worth getting a thermometer you can move around inside so you can double check the temp variations top and bottom against the indicated temps, maybe also check humidity etc. Humidity won't affect your screwcap wine much, but very high humidity does ruin the labels! The main thing is keeping the temp steady and avoiding heat, so you'll be fine either way. Think I'd go 11-12 for the white, 14-15 for the red.

For very old bottles (40+ years or so) that are already mature, you'd want to keep them on the cooler side.

[Matt@5453]

The main thing is keeping the temp steady and avoiding heat, so you'll be fine either way. Think I'd go 11-12 for the white, 14-15 for the red.

Ditto, I only have one zone temp and store mainly reds at 14-15 in mine.

[Nick Wine Guy]

Thanks guys, I've put it to 14 across the board and will likely be 75% red at any given point. It's a Hisense 58 bottle one.

Generally speaking, what do you feel are the best serving temps for sparkling / white / red? Would you put the first two into a regular fridge to cool down further before drinking? On the other hand, any issues with keeping a bottle that's been opened back in the fridge?

As an aside, I have for now decided to keep the little styrofoam and tape on the shelves to keep them a bit more stable from any vibration - any potential issues with this?

Thanks!

[Nick Wine Guy]

Upon further reading, it looks like 55f or 13c is considered the best temp, although it seems to range from 6c for sparkling to 16c for red... I'd imagine true cellars aren't going to have different zones for sparkling, white and red but just one temp. Since most of my wines are red and fairly recent vintages I will want to keep for the longer term, I have opted for 13c. I have some stuff from the 90s and early 2000s, too, that wouldn't really benefit from a higher temp, I'd imagine. Am I doing myself a disservice for stuff I will drink in 2-3 or 8+ years by being at 13c?

[Mahmoud Ali]

Don’t worry about keeping the temperature too low, it isn't necessary. I have never had a temperature controlled cellar. Since I started collecting my wines have been in less than ideal conditions. Thinking back, I have had my wines stored in five different basements, and then when I ran out of friends with an unfinished basement, a storage facility which is where I think the most "damage" could occur. In the basements the wines would be cool in winter, sometimes as low as 11 degrees when the weather turned bitterly cold and warmer in summer, often as high as 15/16 degrees during a hot spell which, in Edmonton, is the high 20s. The most important thing for the wines was that the temperature remained stable on a daily basis and only gradually warmed and cooled between summer and winter.

The last basement I had my wine in was a perfect fit, a small alcove in an unfinished basement where I stacked my wines in wooden boxes almost to the ceiling and had a spring-loaded rod and curtain that separated the wines from the rest of the basement. Three months later, when overseas, I got a call from the couple, to tell me that a job posting in another province required them to move. I had to fly halfway around the world to move the wines. I had offers from a couple of friends. One had a huge basement full of stuff and a large pool table in the middle but he had a son living with him but the thought of him playing pool with his friends within sight of the boxes of wine or having parties was enough to make me give it a miss. Another friend had a basement but it was a finished basement and that meant that it would be subject to winter heating and there was a forced air heating vent adjacent to where the wines would be stored. So that was a non-starter.

I opted for a storage facility. It is not ideal because the temperature in the summer hovers around 18 degrees I think. I was resigned to the idea that my wines would start to advance prematurely ands that some of my older, more fragile ones might be in trouble. That was maybe six or seven years ago years ago. Initially, when a wine wasn't as good as I hoped or expected, I wondered if storage was to blame. But I am over than now because many of the older wines I have opened in the last few years have belied my apprehension. Many of my earliest wine purchases, like the 1962 Nippozano Chianti Riserva last year, and the 1981 Taltarni and 1981 Monte Real Rioja Reserva this year, that have been with me for my entire journey were superb. A 1998 Charles Melton 'Rose of Virginia' that I had this year, arguably the best rose I've ever had, came from a refrigerator in a McLaren Vale drive-through bottle shop, was send to Sydney and put in a wine shipment and transported to Edmonton. That was in 2001. Since then it's been in three different basements and then the 6/7 years in the storage facility followed by a year in the apartment both in and out of the refrigerator. One would assume that a rosé would be more fragile and would be harmed by all this moving and handling but in April this year it was magical and in no danger of falling over - two small glasses the next day confirmed it. Only the cork might have been a problem as it was in the early stages of being compromised.

I guess all this rambling is to say that good wines are pretty resilient so you needn't worry to much. Just make sure the temperature remains stable. Maybe, and this just came to me, adjust the temperature so that it is cooler in winter and a few degrees warmer in summer so that you replicate a natural cellar. Your wines will be protected and it will advance somewhat organically.

Cheers ....................... Mahmoud.

[Nick Wine Guy]

Hi Mahmoud,

Thank you for the thorough response! Makes me feel better about what some of my wines may have gone through before putting them in the fridge

Cheers.

[WhineLover]

I think you’re on the right track regarding temperature however I think you should remove all packaging like styrofoam and tape. The fridge will have all the necessary vibration prevention and mould may be more likely to form on the adhesive tape. I recently purchased a wine fridge myself and am indebted to the great advice found on the subject in other threads on this forum. A useful addition to mine was a wireless indoor outdoor weather station sensor that monitors temperature and humidity. I am seeing approx two degrees variation daily which I am happy with.

[Nick Wine Guy]

I think you’re on the right track regarding temperature however I think you should remove all packaging like styrofoam and tape. The fridge will have all the necessary vibration prevention and mould may be more likely to form on the adhesive tape. I recently purchased a wine fridge myself and am indebted to the great advice found on the subject in other threads on this forum. A useful addition to mine was a wireless indoor outdoor weather station sensor that monitors temperature and humidity. I am seeing approx two degrees variation daily which I am happy with.

Thanks for the advice about that - I did take some bottles out of the paper wrap they came in, like St Henri and Sassicaia. On that note, I have 3 bottles of Ruinart in the clear bottles I have wrapped in paper bags to protect from light when the door is open /the internal LED light - would maybe wrapping them in aluminium foil be a better idea? Likewise, I have kept my Cristal in the plastic wrap it comes in. The shelves are wooden so I figured paper bags weren't a big deal...

The fridge didn't smell at all when I opened it, so I didn't clean it inside when I got it - seemed pretty clean, so I just turned it on. Hopefully that's not a mould risk?

Cheers again for the advice.