I’m not sure how much of an issue this is, but I figured I would throw it out. Several, if not most, of the wine stores in the Little Rock area store wines on shelves standing up. Same types of shelves they are storing other liquors on or like grocery shelves.
I can think of two stores off the top of my head that have wine racks, with a top display bottle sitting angled (cork up) and then the rest of that wine laying completely horizontal below.
How much of a difference does this make, especially when dealing with recent vintage “drink now” stuff?
What about when buying wine that’s a little older?
I’ve been under the impression that wine shouldn’t be stored for any length of time standing up, but I don’t know what length it is before it’s an issue.
I wouldn’t worry at all for recent vintage ‘drink now’ stuff, but I wouldn’t want to buy anything for long-term aging that’s been upright for a long time. I’d be happy to buy older wine that’s now upright if I planned to drink it soon, as I have an area of my cellar with maybe 10-20 bottles standing upright, those are the ones in the ‘drink soon’ pile, getting the sediment to settle…
No issue for quick inventory turnover items. Debatable for longer held items. I would only worry about it if I had other reasons to suspect issue but would check fill levels on anything I bought. If I was going to spend over $100 on an older bottle that I also plan to lay down for a long time, then I may look elsewhere to purchase that bottle but this the only situation that would concern me.
I seem to recall some discussion about aging wine standing up. Maybe with Loren Sonkin. I’ll bug him.
Jason
This comes up on the Boards every so often. Most of my cellar has wine laid down, but not all. I have never had an issue with it. In fact, I probably have had more mushy corks from the bottles laid down than dried out corks from bottles standing up. For me, its about the room in the cellar.
I have been told and seen pics of cellars in Barolo where all the bottles are standing up for a long period of time.
If you cellar is humid I think you are ok. The humidity inside the bottle is 100% right? As for the in a store setting, I think its ok if everything else in the store is ok. Heat being chief among them. If you are really worried, buy a cheap bottle and see how the cork seems. How old are these bottles?
Finally, I think it is recommended to store Madeira upright based on the long storage and the high acidity levels that will eat away at the shorter corks.
I don’t have any specific wines that I’m interested in, but instead was looking for general guidance.
Since everyone talks so much about temperature and humidity in cellars, when I walk into a wine store that’s 72* or so, and probably 40-45% humidity, and on top of that sometimes have bottles standing up, it makes me nervous. If I’m buying a 2013/2014 wine that is a drink now wine, I’m not overly concerned, but when looking at wines that might be 5-10 years old (or older), like say a vintage port, it makes me nervous wondering how long they have been stored in higher temps/lower humidity, not to mention standing up.