Cellar cleaning question

[JFPelletier]

Hey guys,

Something very upsetting happened Saturday. As I was reordering wine in the bulk storage area of my wine cabinet a bottle shattered, raining red wine on all the labels in the four bottle columns down below. My lovely wife tried to make me feel better by saying that the actual wine is not damaged, it will be a story when we serve wine, etc. I was pretty bummed given that it hit a lot of my CA collectibles (and obviously missed my cheap stash CA daily drinkers).

Anyways, my wife (god bless her) and I all cleaned the racks and the bottles and the bottom of the cabinet with a sponge and warm water, but now the inside of the cabinet has this mild smell of stale Caymus Special Selection. Any ideas, suggestion how to remove the smell? Someone suggested a little baking soda in a cup might help, but I am concerned about putting any form of chemical in there. Should I just live with the smell?

Any suggestion, ideas would be great.

Thanks!

JF

(I will also appreciate there, there comments)

[Anton_D]

Tell yourself that your are smelling charming cellar scent and don’t do anything.

I say this from an empirical point of view!

[Jay_Miller]

@JFPelletier

Anyways, my wife (god bless her) and I all cleaned the racks and the bottles and the bottom of the cabinet with a sponge and warm water, but now the inside of the cabinet has this mild smell of stale Caymus Special Selection. Any ideas, suggestion how to remove the smell?

My condolences and I do feel your pain.


However given the wine in question I’m afraid that I can’t resist suggesting holy water. Sorry, sorry. I don’t have any legitimate ideas.

[Bryan_Carr]

I can’t imagine that baking soda in an opened box would affect the wine in any way and would take the odor away pretty easily.

[Keith_Levenberg]

@Jay Miller

@JFPelletier

Anyways, my wife (god bless her) and I all cleaned the racks and the bottles and the bottom of the cabinet with a sponge and warm water, but now the inside of the cabinet has this mild smell of stale Caymus Special Selection. Any ideas, suggestion how to remove the smell?

My condolences and I do feel your pain.


However given the wine in question I’m afraid that I can’t resist suggesting holy water. Sorry, sorry. I don’t have any legitimate ideas.

[Jorge_Henriquez]

Cook some bacon inside the cellar. It’ll make any other smell disappear.

[JFPelletier]

@Jay Miller

@JFPelletier

Anyways, my wife (god bless her) and I all cleaned the racks and the bottles and the bottom of the cabinet with a sponge and warm water, but now the inside of the cabinet has this mild smell of stale Caymus Special Selection. Any ideas, suggestion how to remove the smell?

My condolences and I do feel your pain.


However given the wine in question I’m afraid that I can’t resist suggesting holy water. Sorry, sorry. I don’t have any legitimate ideas.

. Yeah I got even angrier when I realized what wine did this mess.

[Anton_D]

@JFPelletier

@Jay Miller

@JFPelletier

Anyways, my wife (god bless her) and I all cleaned the racks and the bottles and the bottom of the cabinet with a sponge and warm water, but now the inside of the cabinet has this mild smell of stale Caymus Special Selection. Any ideas, suggestion how to remove the smell?

My condolences and I do feel your pain.


However given the wine in question I’m afraid that I can’t resist suggesting holy water. Sorry, sorry. I don’t have any legitimate ideas.

. Yeah I got even angrier when I realized what wine did this mess.

Ha!

Karmic wine retribution?

[Jay_Miller]

@Keith Levenberg

[Victor_Hong]

If your cellar racking is oak, the Caymus scent will be unnoticeable.

[JFPelletier]

I knew that mentioning the name of the deceased bottle would massively distract from the current issue

[Gerhard_P]

Sorry for you.
It happened to me, too … not only one time (and almost always the “better” bottles … missing the cheap daily drinkers …

Seriously: after having cleaned up the mess with sponge and warm water … leave it !
The smell will disapear with time - and all chemicals might do more harm than help …

Also: stained labels are only an issue if you want to resell them … otherwise see it as “patina” …

[DougS]

I’ve cleaned mold off the inside of a wine cabinet with paper towels lightly soaked with white vinegar. It worked well, and the vinegar evaporates really fast, so it doesn’t leave fumes inside the cabinet as long as you keep the door open for a few minutes.

[Bryan_Carr]

@Jorge Henriquez

Cook some bacon inside the cellar. It’ll make any other smell disappear.

I cured some pancetta in my wine cooler last year and trust me, it was definitely the “dominant” smell in there for a good while afterward! I think the white vinegar suggestion is a good one if you’re not keen on leaving some baking soda in there.