Currently i have a setup where i store most of my wine off-site and then I keep bottles I will drink within two years or so at home in my ‘passive’ cellar.
But as my collection grows i am thinking of keeping more wine at home.
The temperature throughout the year is 55-68 Fahrenheit, and it is below 63 for around nine months a year. The temperature is constant on a day to day basis and humidity is not a problem (there is always a rather high humidity in Denmark).
Do any have more experience with storing wine at a temperature range close to this? Could i store more wine at home or should i keep most bottles off-site?
Hmm. 68 is getting on the warm side but if the temperature change is gradual and doesn’t happen in spikes you are probably ok, but I would still be cautious and store the good stuff in the off site which I assume has more consistent temps.
I am working on the assumption that your weather is similar to what we get here in the northeastern US though you are more north in latitude than we are.
Ive been doing exactly this for quite some time. I guess it depends what you are storing though. The vast majority of my collection is not really ‘for aging’. I drink mostly champagne and store some pinot and assorted red otherwise. I dont really see an issue if you have a 2-10 year cellar window. I have one small fridge i use for some of my “good stuff” that really will not be consumed in next year or two. My 2c.
That sounds really good for passive storage. Your most treasured bottles and the ones you want to age the longest can go into the professional off-site, but what you described would work really well for most things.
I would just hazard a guess that the point at which you might notice a quality difference from a bottle stored in professional storage versus the passive conditions you described is probably a decade or longer.
In fact, that would make for a fun blind tasting for you and some friends. Put a few bottles of the same wine in each spot, and then in 5 years or whenever, pour one of each blind with some friends, see if anyone can tell the difference, and if there is a difference, which one is better.
Thanks for posting, I had a very similar Q as I have a garage that ranges from say 45 at worst during winter to maybe low 60s at worst in summer. Was going to use it to keep some overflow wine (from my Artevinos) that isn’t going to be aged more than a few years at most. Sounds like that’s perfectly reasonable then…and I assume I want to store all the bottles horizontal?
That sounds fine, and very much in line with my passive cellar in the Catskill Mountains in NY. Mine is a bit cooler at points in winter (down to low 50Fs) and tops out around 67/68 for a couple of months in summer.
I stored wine in an uninsulated basement storeroom in San Francisco in the 1980s and early 1990s. The air temps got into the 70s a couple of months of the year, and were in the 60s for several more. I still have wines from that period and they’re fine – neither spoiled or overly advanced.
People lose way, way too much sleep about perfect cellar temperatures. There have been many threads here, and no one has every come forward with any evidence for 55F being perfect, or for the common wisdom that short-term temperature swings are bad. The notion that we should aim for a steady 55F seems to be based on legend. Not that a steady 55F is harmful. But it’s almost certainly unnecessary.
Your biggest concern in the garage would probably be the physical location of the bottles-you probably would want to try to put them near the south facing wall to minimize any additional solar heat the boxes could absorb through the walls during summer.
Thanks John, I’ve always gotten the same impression that ppl are overly cautious around storage temps. Now I’m wondering if I even needed the Artevinos lol…I guess I just have more storage now if I want to expand the collection
If you were to say that it’s below 65 12 months of the year I would be perfectly comfortable aging my wines there, but that’s a bit warm even for my comfort. What about putting a cooling unit in your basement?
I have a setup for my bottles I plan to drink within 4 years.
It is under entry stairs and gets minimal late morning exposure to sun about half of the year in cooler months.
I bought a small AC Unit that I have triggered to go on at 57 degrees. I installed it into the door and it’s been working great for 23 years. I have reinforced the interior with some heat resistant paneling. Due to the amount of wine it only seems to come on once we get a steady 82 F outside.
It seems to come on about 5 months of the year.
During the summer I will spray down the floor of cellar with water every couple of months as AC can be drying to corks.
If this is in a garage the cement floor stays very cold and the key is no big swings in temperature. On extremely hot periods(the 25 days we reach 95F plus) I open garage door at night and with a powerful fan blow out the hot air for 30 minutes.
The 2 other big keys are low or no vibration and darkness. Hope this helps.
My passive cellar isn’t even a year old yet, but so far it has seen a pretty hot summer and now at the coldest part of the winter I’m seeing a range of 55F to 68F and I’m happy with that. I roughed in for a cooling unit in the future but if these stay consistent I probably wont’ ever use it. I read a lot on caves and other long term storage in the old-world and it was surprising how much variation some of those had (and the wines were fine). Avoid big swings and keep it under 70 was the general consensus I read.
Variation is 0.1 deg per day if any (bottle probe). So I’m not too worried.
I also am not storing DRC and 1st growths to sell later so there’s that.
Lassek, I have a very similar storage situation to you, almost exactly. Right now in the winter months I am steady around 55 degrees F. This creeps up to the mid to high 60s at the warmest parts of summer. I have no daily temperature variation (only seasonal) as the cellar is enclosed from the rest of the basement and insulated with rigid insulation. I have not had any issues yet, but I haven’t gone longer than 5-10 years of aging.
I have had some wonderful milestones over the last few years and have acquired bottles for long term aging (+10 years). I have considered adding a cooling unit to the space, mainly to combat the warmer summer months, but have yet to pull the trigger.
Thanks for all the answers. I am a less concerned now. I will keep the bottles that require longer term aging off-site and the rest in my cellar for now.
Maybe I will add a smaller wine fridge for my “natural wines”… yes i am one of the crazy persons that also store wine with no sulfites added. And for those i have no idea how temperature effects them
