Wine exposed to hot car

Hi,
I am new to wine. I signed up for a wine club membership in eastern long island and recently took delivery of my first wine delivery.

Stupid me left the wine in my car for two days… Sunday wasn’t too hot but today was very hot and humid. Upon bringing the bottles inside i noticed a slight amount of wine drippings on the outside of the 3 of the 4 bottles.

Here is a picture of the top of the corks… are these bottles ruined? You can see the wine has colored the top of the corks. They are now in a climate controlled environment. I plan on trying a bottle tomorrow night but wanted to know what the experts think!

They’re ruined, at least for long term storage. Drink up.

Thanks for the quick reply. How long do you think I have? A month or so until un drinkable?

Since they will never be what they are supposed to be, no reason not to drink them at your first opportunity. Whether that is a week or a month, just drink them. Treat them as if they have already been opened and then immediately recorked, as they have now been exposed to oxygen.

At least you learned your lesson early, before you got onto a mailing list or-gasp-developed a Burgundy habit.
Temperature is by far the most important variable in wine storage. Colder is always a better option; too cold won’t allow the wine to age, but at the very least won’t do damage. Extended storage in the 70s isn’t ideal but won’t hurt the wine outright, just move it along the aging curve faster than it should, and for some of the more delicate wines rob it of some freshness. Extended time in heat like in your case can cause the wine to push around the cork and leak, allowing almost as much air exposure as if the wine were opened and recorked. Those wines will likely show ill effects in a matter of months. But wine is an odd thing where even the experts can’t really give you absolutes; I once did a cellar appraisal where the room temps were 80+ and the carpet on the floor was sticky from years of leaking wines, yet several wines I tasted that were 25+ years old were delicious. Perhaps not pristine or ideal, but tasty nonetheless.
Long story short, drink up, but perhaps put one aside for 2-3 years in the interest of science…

Clearly, it is better not to expose wine to heat.

However, there are lots of variables and no real way to know how much damage has been done and how soon it might show up.

Factors which have some effect likely include:

  • How hot did the wine get?
    For how long was it hot?
    How ready to age or ready to drink was the wine before exposure?
    How much SO2 did the wine have a the time of exposure?
    How much headspace is there in the bottles?

There are wines with low headspace that will seep wine, if left on their side, with only a mild change in temp. If a wine like this is one that has ample SO2 and is in good condition to age before being exposed, it might well be fine for several years at least. I have had bottles that were mildly heat exposed with some leaking and then aged that were fine (delicious in fact) 3 years out.

I’d see if you can get another bottle of one of the wines and age them side by side to see. Let us know.

Drink up. Treat future wine better.

  • 1

As others have said, I would drink them soon to be safe but it would be fun to do as Andrew says and get another bottle. In a few years you could be an expert.

I had one experience with a high end Champagne where I spaced and left in a box in my garage after a move. It spent a few years in my garage that easily gets to 115 degrees. When I discovered it I figured it was toast. Nope it was absolutely wonderful. But of course I did not have a chance to compare to a properly stored bottle.


Jason

Dan Berger once did an experiment wherein he bought two bottles each of some pretty fancy Napa Cabs, put one of each in cool storage and put the others in his trunk for the ENTIRE SUMMER. He then let the wines sit in his cellar for a month before presenting them blind at a meeting of winemakers and trade folks.

The wines from the trunk were the preference of a large majority. Moral of the story: Pinot or Champagne is a delicate flower, but SOME wines are like a steak that needs to get beat up a little to tenderize it.

Lots of stories out there about wines exposed to high temperature tasting fine in the short term. I have never seen a controlled study about how brief heat exposure affects a wine’s ability to age. Could be a myth.

Buy a wine corker and some nitrogen (wine saver). Uncork carefully to reduce chance of cork dust and recork with a new natural cork. If you want to be really fancy make a 2% sulfur solution and add 1mL to the wine. Wine will surely lose some of its quality. But it is a lot of the time it is salvageable. Wines are exposed to oxygen all the time when they are being made including many bottles which are reworked. The most common problems depend on the length of time and damage done to initial cork. TCA can be a serious concern if the wine went through the cork completely. Smell or taste for it.

This is for big reds obviously

Respectfully, I’m not sure that re-corking and re-sulphuring a cooked wine is going to do a lot of good.

I’m with Chuck that he should drink them now for what they are - or perhaps even use them for cooking - and consider it a lesson learned.

Thank you for letting me know I’m not crazy. I have several bottles of 2001 Arrowood Cab, most that are stored under 70˚ out of direct sunlight - but 1 bottle was forgetten on the kitchen rack for years. That singular bottle was subjected to a few air conditioning failures (one that lasted for weeks where the house was steadily over 90˚) and indirect sunlight through the bay window over the course of several years. We figured we’d try it anyway. To say it was only better would be an understatement. The tannins had softened MUCH more than the “properly” stored bottles. The fruit flavors were not completely dominated by the pepper & smoke tastes like in the “properly” stored bottles either. Our dinner companions - one a food critic, the other a bartender - enjoyed it immensely. I think the stronger the tannins, the more benefit there is to mellowing it with some heat. I’m not saying to bake your bottles at 350˚ though. Time to experiment with bottles of strong tannic wines on my rack like 1997 Arrowood Reserve Cab, 1999 Felsina Rancia Chianti, and 2003 Dunn Howell Mountain Cab.

  • I would DEFINITELY NOT try this with white wine - only reds with powerful tannins.

Let the games begin! [shock.gif] Decided a 2001 Arrowood Reserve Cab would be the guinea pig.

The oven is on KEEP WARM (170˚) with the door open. The bottle is on an oven mitt to keep it from directly contacting the oven rack. Started by pulling the top rack all the way out, and then pull it a little out or push it a little in depending on what I want the temperature to be. Last night the max was 105˚, but average was 100˚ after playing with the position. Tonight will be 97˚ steady. I’ll do this for a week or more, letting it cool down to the mid 70’s during the day to simulate the temperature fluctuation that occurs when you have no HVAC system. Then I’ll put the bottle marked with a small “H” back on my rack and taste it in December.

Yes, you can call me crazy. If it works and the tannins smooth out as I suspect I’ll let you know. If it doesn’t, then it only cost me 1 bottle. After some research and my former experience, I’m optimistic.

Of course, I might be a flaming idiot but let’s reserve judgement until the test drinking day comes. [popcorn.gif]

That’s a cab with some age on it - not sure that’s a good test mule, particularly when you said you wanted a tannic wine. A 2001 Arrowood would probably have softened tannins by now, and perhaps even be on its decline already, no?

No, not the bottle we just drank. It was so dry and tannic that you wanted a glass of water after each mouthful. After 3 days of decanting the fruit was still overpowered by the pepper / spice / oak taste. The last bottle that was exposed to heat was a 2001 so I want to see if this will duplicate, or at least come close, to the characteristics it had.

I used to hang a sign in the tasting room saying, “If it’s too hot to leave your mother-in-law in the car then it’s too hot for your wine.”
It didn’t work.

My wife’s parents are both deceased. Guess that means I’m okay to keep doing this experiment! [wow.gif]

I’m now 1 week into the heat portion of this silly experiment. Had some interesting libations including a 2002 JJ Prüm Wehlener-Sonnenuhr auslese and a 2009 Huet LeMont 1ere Trie. However, I just couldn’t wait for Thanksgiving to get here for pumkin pie - which is a great excuse to break out a bottle of this:

Only 10 bottles left after this one is polished off. [drinkers.gif]