I’m fairly early in my wine journey but I have around 300 bottles shelved so far. Passive cellar I insulated in the basement, happened to have a duct running through so I added in a splitter for AC in summer (semi-active cellar?) I close it off when we switch to heat for our long canadian winters. Range is 58-63 daily, thermal mass is probably holding wine temperatures at 60-62. Winters are fairly similar with less daily variation. I know thats a bit off the recommended 55.
Should one be concerned when trying to long term store wines like Bordeaux’s at these temps? Or should I stop researching AC units and buy another few cases of futures with the savings.
I would have no concerns. All a cooler temp will do is put your wines in stasis longer. I cellar to drink so prefer they age at a minimally greater pace around 65.
Been doing a passive cellar in MN for 25 years. No worries. Just opened a wine in my passive cellar tonight that has been in it for 15 years and wine of the night.
What everyone else will say. Those temps are great. You should check to see what happens without running the A/C. That cold air is a bit drier than the ambient air, and could cause the corks to dry out more quickly, drawing wine from the bottles. I’ve had a passive cellar for almost 40 years and my wines have aged very well. Slightly faster than wines aged in a eurocave or active cellar, but no worse, and I’m fine with that, having ideally aged wines to drink within my lifetime!
That looks fine. I’ve varied from about 50 to 90 and have paid the price with some crappy looking labels, but the corks have generally remained healthy.
I’m in Canada too and use passive for a portion of my wine. The ONLY thing I would change, would be probably add a bit more insulation in or glued on the ceiling/ wall so you can reduce that daily fluctuation. I know the liquid isn’t moving as quickly up or down, but 5 degrees a day suggests your insulation isn’t doing that much. Bet if you up the R-value of everything but the floor, you get more stable temps and consistently a bit lower. Been said a hundred times here, but Richard Gold’s “how & why to build a wine cellar” can explain it in almost painful detail.
Yeah it’s underneath a staircase, I’ve insulated everything on the ceiling and walls except for the staircase. Thinking maybe some foam board insulation and glue it down? Door isnt insulated either, quality wood with a hollow core. I’d prefer not getting a new door though. Thanks on the book, I’ll give it a read!
Hollowcore door is undoing everything you’ve insulated. Unless you insulate or replace that, you’ve (unfortunately) wasted your time & $ insulating everything else.
As long as you work out the swing of the door with the extra depth (Gold’s book), you can foamboard the heck out of it from the inside, so it doesn’t look like an ugly bodge from the living area side. Just my opinion, but if you’ve come this far with insulation, you may as well go a bit further to make passive work for you long-term.
Steel (foamcore) doors are sometimes cheap at H.D. & the like, but aren’t a great solution for passive cellars as they are quite low in R-value.
Agreed on the door. I posted this elsewhere, but a relatively easy and inexpensive solution (but not very pretty), is to add a couple layers of foam board to the inside of the door, per my picture below.
It is not perfect, and it is not pretty, but it is a LOT better than nothing. A hollow-core door alone is almost like just leaving the door open…
I really question if corks will dry out if the wine stays at any sort of reasonable humidity. I mean, I can see a problem if it’s 20% for years on end. But I think mold with high humidity can be a bigger issue.
I had to toss out a number of boxes and soak some wood crates with Moldex when I stored them in a friend’s passive cellar that stayed very damp for long periods. Now I’ve got some mold in my own passive cellar that I suspect was introduced on cases I moved from my friend’s.
I have a cellar thats going between 58-72 during the year. Might even peak around 73-74 a few days a year. But it stays very constant in short periods. Humidity is fine year round. Right now i just keep a wine fridge down there and the rest of my collection offsite.
But the offsite place is rather expensive and i will max out what i can have there within a year.
So i am also slowly looking into solutions. The room is badly isolated now so it might be enough to get that fixed. But as you say this is a rabbit hole!!
And i have a ton of low sulfites wines. Unsure about those at temperatures close to 70.
