Long term wine storage

Can I store a bottle of wine in a typical kitchen fridge for maybe up to a year without any adverse affects? Thing is there are some wines I would like to buy now. But I know in roughly 2 months I should be in LA. Thinking of leaving a bottle or two in my buddy’s fridge. I’m guessing his fridge temp would be around 7-10C. We know what happens when it’s too warm but what if it’s under the recommended storage temp of 13C?

yes, but it won’t advance/develop.
alan

Ok thanks pal. And the good news he and his wife aren’t “drinkers”. Not even wines. So my bottles will be safe.

RIght. It could develop some tartaric acid crystals, but they don’t hurt (and are edible, if you care to).

Do these crystals impart some extra flavour? Is this another kind of sediment?

Might buy a temp controlled mini fridge from Preservino to house the wine and leave it at my buddy’s. See if the warden approves.

AFAIK it’s a precipitate that can form at lower temps if the conditions are right. I don’t believe they change the flavor at all. The ones I’ve tasted are like the wine, but more acid. They usually form on the bottom of the bottle or on the cork, I beleive. In any case, no big deal.

Ok good to know. So I can go with using a kitchen fridge or a mini wine fridge. Have a good weekend.

There is the [supposed] issue of the fridge compressor [motor] imparting vibrations to the bottles and affecting them.
Probably some truth to it, although over the short term it may not have much effect.
You might rest the bottles on foam rubber in said fridge. But with young wines consumed early there is probably no effect.

Paul

Agreed. But I would be storing the wines bought locally for roughly 6-9 months. So perhaps a typical kitchen fridge might not be the best idea. Even if there is minimal vibration. Depends how anal we want to get. As I said, I could buy a purpose built 14 bottle Preservino fridge (w/ built-in argon dispenser). Just need to wait and see what my buddy’s warden says. Do I get the green light (leaving a small wine fridge hooked up to an outlet for almost a year).

9 months is SHORT term. If it was 9 years I would have some concern…
Use a regular fridge and don’t cross the warden…

Paul

Ok good to know. It would be just 2 or 3 (or 4…etc.) bottles any how.

Any opinions on the EuroCav SoWine vacuum “fridge”? Holds 2 bottles at serving temp. After drinking part of a bottle you put the bottle in the device and press the vacuum mechanism. Allegedly it’s supposed to successfully store wine for up to 10 days. Like using argon gas spray or Prive Preserve. Can it be as effective since this vacuum is electronic and not a manual pump? And because it allows you to set it to serving temp?

http://www.eurocave.com/Wine-cabinets/Wine-serving-cabinets/Sowine

Something that nobody mentioned and I would say is actually the biggest concern, esp. depending on age of bottles: the environment inside a fridge can be quite dry, leading to corks becoming too dry and letting some air in. At least that’s always been explained to me as the main drawback of storing wine long term inside a regular fridge.

I’d like to mention a detail that could be worth considering when storing a bottle of wine for a longer period of time. It’s about the same as storing champagne: You need to rotate the bottle for 90-180 degrees twice a week for optimal storage of the wine. I do not know exactly why this is important, but I got this recommendation from a wine expert. It could be etiquette though try it if you like to.

First time I’ve heard of that recommendation. Glad I don’t have thousands of bottles in my collection. Yet. Can you imagine rotating 4000+ bottles 2x a week? HAH!!

When I get a wine fridge I think the only movement a bottle will see is from the wine fridge to the decanter and to my glass.

Michael, this is a fairly common misconception. It is true that during the production of methode champenoise that the bottles are periodically rotated and tilted gradually downward using a riddling rack, a process called riddling. The purpose is to move the sediment (dead yeast cells) to the neck of the bottle for removal during disgorgement. However, once the Champagne is finished (after disgorgement), the rotation is no longer needed. May not do any harm, but it is simply a waste of your time. With still wines, rotation is NEVER necessary, and in the case of red wines that throw a sediment during aging, could very well be harmful.

I’ve had this happen with bottles I’ve left in our fridge for more than a couple of months, and I’ve always wondered if the formation of tartaric acid crystals means that the wine loses some of its acidic zip. Any chemists out there with a comment on this?

True dis, at least in my limited experience

Yes we know roughly what happens when it is too warm. But how you define “too warm” is not so easy.

Assuming your buddy’s house/apartment is a comfortable temperature for living, you need not even bother with a fridge - certainly for up to a year - wine is not THAT delicate. I would not bother taking up fridge space - just keep it dark and away from obvious sources of heat.

I’ve been told that. “Store it in a dark place”. But I too assumed that the temperature you store wines was important. I suppose it would be okay if you were to drink it in a few weeks or months? Is this what you’re doing? If you are, and assuming your closet or room temperature is around 21C, do you bother icing the bottle to bring it down to near 18C?