Effect of wine storage at 45 degrees?

We keep most of our nicer bottles in a large wine fridge that stays pretty close to 55 degrees. As our collection has grown, that fridge has filled up and we are overflowing into two small Danby wine fridges that do not get warmer than 45 degrees. Does anyone have an idea how much this will slow the aging curve of the wine down? We never intended to use them to be for long term storage but it’s starting to end up that way.

Searched a bit for this, but didn’t quite find an answer.

Thanks

I would be surprised if you find a specific answer - though some thermodynamic specialist on this board may have some ‘educated guesses’. The interesting thing would be to take two bottles of the same wine and age one in each for a specific period of time, take them out, and try them blind . . .

Cheers

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I like that idea. I think I’ll add a 3rd bottle at room temp to that mix.

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Some reds will precipitate out things at refrigerator temperature (40F). You can get crusting on the inside of the bottle. So extended storage at 45 would make me a bit nervous. (FYI, I’m not a fanatic about 55F, which is fairly arbitrary, and don’t lose any sleep about my passive cellar getting into the 60s across the summer.)

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Hey…Larry…whatta 'bout us Rocket Scientists?? Don’t we count for sumthin??

David…the chemistry tells us that the chemical reaction rate double with each 10 degrees Centigrade rise in temperature. So the effect of the colder temperature would be to slow the aging of the colder wine.
Some people assert that to slower the aging rate, the better the wine evolves. Within limits, that is probably true…but I’m a bit suspicious of that assertion.
Tom

Well… the 55 degrees comes from the fact that most underground wine cellars in France are about 55F. Therefore, it follows that
55F is the ideal temperature for aging wines. We do know that…don’t we?? The experts tell us so.
My cellar gets up to the upper 60F in the summer w/ air conditioning and down to the low 30F in the Winter time w/ heating.
Don’t find any problems in my wines.
Tom

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Every increase in temp of 10 degrees Celsius doubles the rate of a chemical reaction. Wine aging is a series of chemical reactions. So 10 degrees C is 18 degrees F. So the effect of dropping 10 degrees F slows wine aging to some degree, but not hugely.

Whoops, just saw Tom’s note.

Greg Tatar argues that 55F comes from the Brits. And, indeed, the mean ground temperature at 1 meter depth in southern England is 12.7C/54.85F: UK shallow ground temperatures for ground coupled heat exchangers - NERC Open Research Archive

Since the English were such a dominant force in the market, particularly for old wines, it seems plausible that they set the standard. I can’t find Bordeaux or Burgundy temps. My guess is that Bordeaux might be a tad higher and Burgundy a tad lower. But that’s a guess.

Low 30’s in New Mexico?? Wow…do you live in the hills or at higher than average altitude?

We’ve found the same thing. In summers we got to 65 even with an AC unit as the chillers and down to high 40s in the winter. Some of our 20 yr old Monte Bellos still need a few years.

Why don’t you put your mature wines in the ones at 45 degrees. Slowing down their aging would not seem to be a big deal.

I’d be curious to know the temperature in Bern’s cellar. I could see my breath in there. Their bottles seem to age very well.

David,

There was a restaurant in Baltimore, Della Notte, that kept their wines in the beer cooler, so probably low forties. They are the best aged wines I’ve ever had. I was fortunate enough to purchase some of the cellar when the restaurant closed and the wines are still in great shape. The wines I purchased were all Italians, and mostly Barolos and Barbarescos, from the early 70’s through 1996. For a number of people on this board (Kevin Shin, Bob Hughes, Ken Vastola, Todd Tucker, Greg del Piaz…), I am sure many of the wines from Della Notte are in their Pantheon of great Italian wines.

I would not worry at all.

Tom Maskell

That dentist that had the huge cellar kept his at 50 degrees, fwiw. Mine is high 40s to lower 50s in the winter.

My passive cellar dips into the high 30’s in the winter and up to 52 in the summer. All my bottles seem to stay on the younger side for a long time- I see tartrate crystals in my Sauternes that make them look like snow globes.

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for 30 years I’ve kept mine at 50, only recently turned up a couple degrees due to actuarial reality. Wines alwaus show well. The famous Glamis castle is a great story about cold storage.

The lowest elevation in New Mexico is close to 3000 ft. The mean elevation is close to 6000 ft. I believe Tom lives above 6500 feet. Temperatures are obviously dependent on location but one site indicates that, on average, the daily low temperature is below freezing for 140 days, or more than 1/3 of the year.

RE: the choice of 55 degrees … isn’t 55F also the temperature at which the pressure inside the bottle/headspace neither exerts outward OR inward forces on the cork? I would think that in terms of maintaining a proper seal, the most advantageous temperature (all else equal) would be the one that does not put any pressure on the cork.

Well Bueker’s got what he claims is a glacial cellar, so you might want to page him. I assume wines would tend to age at a very slow pace.

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Not unless the wine and headspace gas were put into the bottle at 55 degrees.

I don’t think pressure on the cork seal becomes a significant factor until the wine starts to freeze or the temperature gets somewhere above 80. I’m sure one of the local chemists or physicists can do the math and correct me if I’m significantly off.