We’ve all heard the often-repeated notion that the temperature of wine storage is important, but also that fluctuations in temperature can be damaging to wine.
Of course, I can accept that if these temperatures fluctuate into unusually high ranges, that’s undesirable. However, is it also believed that temperature fluctuations within a “safe” range are also harmful? This seems to be implied by many “experts,” but I have yet to see any real science backing this up.
Many wineries in Europe and elsewhere use “passive” cellars, where I’m sure there is some natural variation in temperature. Wines are stored in such places for decades in some cases, and I’ve never heard of any deleterious effects.
So, is this just another folk myth which pervades the wine collecting community, or are there any real data or studies to substantiate this?
It’s well known yeast will produce different esters and other compounds at various temperatures. While I think it would be near impossible to make a definite correlation between esters and temp, given the endless number of yeast strains, I feel the typical range of 55-65F is based on an average of common yeast found in wine and the flavor compounds they produce. Even if a bottle was stored at 75F but constantly, I feel the off notes would be limited as only that select number/type of ester could be produced and the yeast would not be stressed. When you get wild temp. changes, yeast does some weird stuff to try and stay alive.
I haven’t checked how much scientific backing there actually is. But what is believed to be harmful is strong short-term (e.g., diurnal) variations, where the bottle might start working like a pump (sometimes under-pressure inside the bottle, sometimes over-pressure), thereby increasing oxygen ingress. Longer-term (e.g., seasonal) variations are not thought to be problem as far as I know unless the temperature range becomes excessive. The variation of the passive winery cellars you are talking about may be largely of this longer-term, seasonal kind. My own passive cellar ranges from about 15 C in the middle of the winter to about 21 C in the middle of the summer but has virtually no variation on a diurnal basis. So I am not at all worried.
Ahhhhhh…there’s your problem, Nate. You accept whatever these “experts” say at face value. Typically, these “experts” are simply repeating from what they were told by
the “experts” that came before them. And, nearly always, there is no “science” to back up these pronouncements.
The “folk myth” behind this is that temperature flucuations (of what range?? 5 degrees, 15 degrees??) is “tiring” to the wine. I can actually imagine, for a wine in which
the cork is not well-seated, that these temperature flucuations can put pressure on the cork and allow air to enter…but I suspect that is pretty rare.
So…temperature flucuations is nothing I would lose any sleep over. And when these same “experts” assure that 55F is the “ideal” temperature to store your wine,
I wouldn’t bother to ask them for any “science”.
Tom
Well, I am not accepting “experts” at face value, but rather questioning them.
In my experience, in all facets of life, whenever you hear about something that “everybody knows,” it usually means that it’s either untested or based on anecdote, lacking any real scientific rigor. Otherwise, we wouldn’t attribute it to “everybody,” but to those who did the actual research!
There was a similar thread not too long ago in which Greg Tatar opined that the 55F “idea” simply reflected the typical British cellar temperature.
Yup…gotta agree there w/ you, Nate.
OTOH…have you read MarkMatthews book on “Terroir & Other Wine Myths of Winegrowing”??? A very/very interesting read that brings
“science” to bear on destroying many of these myths that “everybody knows”. In this case, Matthew’s tries to destroy the myth of terroir.
Not altogether successfully from my view. I think he overstates his case a bit. I think I can taste the terroir of Lodi and ContraCosta reds,
so, for me, terrior exists in some certain/limited sense.
Anyway, Nate…a good read that I think you’d enjoy.
Tom
Lots more discussion here
Well, I suppose this is “science” at least in the sense that it is empirical evidence, granting that each person’s taste in wine, and assessment of “aged” is distinct:
My cellar is passive, varies from about 55F (floor, winter) to perhaps 72F (ceiling, summer), and I have been storing a significant amount of wine under these conditions for about 12 years. A check of my CT statistics yields the following approximations of the “mean average” bottle we consume from our cellar:
– has spent about 5 years in our cellar
– is about 8 years old at opening (not counting some very old Piemonte)
We drink about 50/50 red/white, about 10% of which is sparkling or fortified. almost entirely old world. in the 8 years of using CT to record consumption we have recorded 2400 bottles, less tha 1% of which seemed to me even potentially compromised by our storage conditions. The few bottles we drank which I felt were “too old”, were in fact ones that almost anybody would consider to be so regardless of their storage situation.
For example, so far in October and November, we have drunk 37 bottles, 17 red, 11 still white, 4 rose, 3 sparkling, 2 fortified. The average age is about 10 years (again, not counting old outliers), and pretty much all of these have been stored in our cellar since USA release, probably averaging about 8 years. None had to my taste any sign of premature aging, FWIW.
As another data point from someone deep in the science of wine world, Clark Smith coincidentally just posted this on the wine.woot forum:
The most important attribute of a cellar is even daily temperature, anywhere below 60F is good. A lot of people believe in 55F. You really don’t want an oversized air conditioner that’s going on and off all the time - insulation is better. The best thing you can do is bury or dig into soil - most places the temperature is in this range and the soil gives you a good buffer.
Above all, never let a wine go above 80F. The danger is that thermal expansion creates an irresistible force that to breaks the seal between the glass and the cork. Once that happens, even slight changes in temperature will pump air into and out of the bottle, causing the wine to die in a very short time.
An overly cool cellar is not good either. The phenolics that protect wines lose their ability to react with oxygen in the low 50Fs, where vinegar bacteria can thrive uninhibited.
Thanks, Kyle. That’s a very interesting quote from Smith.
As this kind of discussion usually mixes up temperature and its effects on the cork/air ingress/oxidation and the effects on chemistry of the liquid inside caused by various temperature scenarios, I’ve started a parallel thread on the latter on bottles sealed by screwcaps.
Why don’t you want a big air conditioner that is going on and off all the time? The temperature of the air in front of the AC is not going to be the temperature of the wine, which is a liquid and which takes a lot longer to shift a few degrees one way or another.
In addition, what is the seal he is talking about? Corks let wine leak if the pressure inside the bottle is high enough to force wine between the cork and the glass. With fresh corks, the seal of the cork excludes air but if the pressure of the wine in the bottle is greater, it will leak. Longer term, the seal declines because the contact where the cork meets glass becomes hard and no longer “grabs” the glass.
The speed of a temperature change makes no difference. At least, I’ve never seen any science that supports a contention that speed matters.
I don’t know any science that supports the contention that wine should not go over 80 degrees F, but anecdotally, I have had some wines reach those temps and the wines were OK.
Again, I fully accept that higher temperatures are probably undesirable (but then again, I haven’t seen the science!).
The type of study I have in mind would involve two batches of wine, one kept at a constant temperature, let’s say 60° or whatever, and the other subjected to frequent fluctuations within what is commonly regarded to be a “safe” temperature, maybe 55 to 70. The wines would be tasted over the course of months or years, and blind evaluations could be compared.
That’s the sort of thing I’d be interested in, whether it makes a tangible difference to the consumer, not whether it (theoretically?) affects cork dynamics, various reaction rates, or what have you.
As always the Australian Wine Research Institute is your friend.
http://www.awri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Technical_Review_Issue_224_Scrimgeour.pdf
I have a lot of respect for Clark, but I have to wonder where he came up with that last bit. The cellar at Bern’s is in that range, and I’ve never experienced or even heard of excessive acetic notes in old bottles that have been stored there for decades.
Agree, Doug…that statement seems suspect. For acetobacter to grow, it needs the presence of O2. Not much of that available in a properly sealed btl.
Tom
Cellar? I thought that was the temperature inside the typical British home!
Why do you think those Euro-peean wines are so tas-tee?? ![[stirthepothal.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f40faec63ca1018898a40805efbf9f0066a3d205.gif "[stirthepothal.gif]"){kind=small}
That does not really address the OP’s question, which is about the variation in temperature rather than its level. What would be needed would be a study comparing wine stored at a constant temperature of say 15 C with wine stored at the same average temperature but with fluctuations, on a daily basis or so, between say 10 and 20 C.
I haven’t come across a study that really did something like that. On the other hand, there are good physical reasons to think that oxygen ingress would be worse for bottles stored under frequent temperature fluctuations due to stronger pressure differences between what’s inside and outside the bottle. How much that matters in practice is another story. It could be that the effect is so limited as not to matter much.