Aging Wine Temps and Results Question

Ok. So I know ideally wine is stored around 55degF for ‘optimal’ aging.

My question is this: let’s say you want to store a bottle of (red) wine for 5 years at 55degF (bc that’s what is recommended before drinking yada yada). Would you be able to store the same bottle of wine at room temp, say 75degF, and achieve the same results after say, 3 years? Or is the aging process different enough at different temperatures to yield a different tasting/feeling/balanced wine?

I hope that makes sense - thanks for the input.

Sean, the question makes sense and it would be nice if wine aged in such a linear equation, but there is no substitute for time. While some aspects of the wine might improve faster at the higher temps, you risk ruining some of the subtleties of flavor you get with a properly aged wine. Slow and steady wins the race.

Jud summarized it well. There are many different reactions that happen in a bottle of wine. Unfortunately at higher temps the bad reactions happen much faster than the good ones.

I think there is a pretty easy analogy that will help. Lets think about cooking a nice, hefty, delicious rump roast. You put that in a slow cooker at 200F for 6 hours, you get tender falling apart meat with tons of flavor added from all the fat that has had time to literally melt into the meat. You put that same roast in the oven for 3 hours at 400F and you get something that is edible, probably a bit tough and a bit lacking in flavor. Now what if we tried sticking that bad boy in something at 800F for 1.5 hours? We would probably get something that resembled charred shoe leather that was completely raw on the inside. So, moral of the story is you want to have the right temperature and the right time. You will probably get results either way, but they may not be what you want.

According to Mark Philips, wines age 8 times faster at 75 degrees than at 55 degrees.

My parents until recently did not have a wine fridge. They still drink wines that they’ve had for a year or more at 75 (since they live in Florida). My dad said that it’s not too unusual to find sediment in some of the bottles after a year.

A rule of thumb in chemistry is that reactions roughly double in speed for each additional 10ºC in temperature. That applies to wine aging too, so I would say Mark Philips is wrong! But different reactions are affected differently by temperature, so if you age your wines at different temperatures the development will never be exactly the same.

This is something i’ve pondered as well. Great info!

I also recall reading somewhere a while back that the higher temp is liable to accentuate any faults (vs “equivalent” cooler & slower aging. So not really recommended. I think the key thing is the extra 10deg over 65. That adds far more risk I think than going from 55 to 65.
Perhaps the chemists can elaborate.

Slow and steady

Certainly Brett (Brettanomyces - sticking plaster / farmyard / etc. ) prospers at the higher end of that scale and above. FWIW I enjoy it in moderation (actually anything but rampant excess hitsfan ), so I ought to have a slightly warmer cellar temperature!

I really wouldn’t worry about 65 vs. 55. However see the differing opinions on the wine talk forum thread (Original post by John Morris) to see that whilst plenty of us say don’t over-worry, there is very little science and a awful lot of anecdotal evidence/opinion. I.e. treat my opinion with as much caution as other opinions!

p.s. IANAC (I am not a chemist) but I read too much about wine.

If that’s the case, would there be any harm in storing at 45 degrees to slow down aging?

Not if you plan on living to 170! :slight_smile: