wine cooler ruined all my wine?

[Mark_Y]

they all taste like cheap box wines from the 90’s: Prisoner, Machete, Caymus -alcohol and vinegar.

Woa woa woa. 90s Caymus is NOT cheap box wine.

[GregT]

From the first linked article:

But what’s truly horrifying about this freak occurrence is that scientists have no idea what causes it. For a while, researchers thought that a Chinese variety of pine nut called P. armandii was the culprit in this crime against taste, but there’s no concrete evidence to tie a certain pine nut species or farming origin to the condition. The only concrete evidence that the FDA found was that Pine Mouth is a result of eating raw pine nuts.

So then, does that mean if you roast them you’re OK?

I have a bag from TJs and I made pesto two nights ago. But you want to toast any nut before using it anyway, so I did.

Whew! I guess I dodged a bullet!

And in the future, I’m using marcona almonds.

[Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m]

Fuuuu**! Well then … I guess I’ll be avoiding raw pine nuts from now on!

[Victor_Hong]

Where is the cooler located? It’s not next to an oven or dishwasher is it?

I keep mine outside, in direct sun, so that its solar panels can operate the compressor, for free.

[Scott_G_r_u_n_e_r]

The pinenuts thing is going to affect all taste though, not just specific cooler stored wines. Red Herring

[Arv_R]

Good time to revisit this classic

Vinotemp Customer Service Issues -- Help Please

[GregT]

What a great thread.

And interestingly, most of the posters are no longer around.

[Markus_S]

And interestingly, most of the posters are no longer around.

What are you talking about?

Gangs all here. We haven’t pushed daises yet or gone to meet our maker. But we have a lot of Vinegar swooshing around our mouths at the moment, and it’s puckering.

[YLee]

I love vinegar.

[Eric_Lundblad]

A long long time ago (long before I started making wine), I had a wine locker in a professional storage unit…except my locker was in the direct air/firing line of one of the air coolers, which caused similar large cooling & warming (relative) cooling cycles, at times (summer) relatively frequent cycles. All the wines stored there were wines I bought and picked up directly from the winery. They died an early death. I’d excuse them for not showing well and needing more time to show well and etc. A couple of friends told me something was wrong with my wines (they’d recently had the same wines without problem). They were right, and the temp fluctuations in the cellar I believe was the problem.

Sorry you’re having this problem…get a better cooler, or fix the one you have. And put your current wines in your cooler on the fast track for consumption. That’s the unfortunate advice I have for you.

[Chuck_Miller]

A long long time ago (long before I started making wine), I had a wine locker in a professional storage unit…except my locker was in the direct air/firing line of one of the air coolers, which caused similar large cooling & warming (relative) cooling cycles, at times (summer) relatively frequent cycles. All the wines stored there were wines I bought and picked up directly from the winery. They died an early death. I’d excuse them for not showing well and needing more time to show well and etc. A couple of friends told me something was wrong with my wines (they’d recently had the same wines without problem). They were right, and the temp fluctuations in the cellar I believe was the problem.

Sorry you’re having this problem…get a better cooler, or fix the one you have. And put your current wines in your cooler on the fast track for consumption. That’s the unfortunate advice I have for you.

I don’t buy this. Assume the facility is at 55 degrees. To maintain that, a commercial system will typically output air at about 49 degrees, which immediately begins to mix with the ambient 55 degree air. My compressors (redundant) run maybe 10% of the time, the fans run 24/7. So 90% of the time they are simply moving around 55 degree air, and 10% of the time they are blowing something in the low 50’s. Even if you stick a box of wine a few feet in front of the evaporator it is not going to have any ill effects. After all, wine is not affected by wind chill.

Sorry your wines were not what you wanted, but I don’t think your locker being in the airflow was a factor.

[Eric_Lundblad]

I don’t buy this. Assume the facility is at 55 degrees. To maintain that, a commercial system will typically output air at about 49 degrees, which immediately begins to mix with the ambient 55 degree air. My compressors (redundant) run maybe 10% of the time, the fans run 24/7. So 90% of the time they are simply moving around 55 degree air, and 10% of the time they are blowing something in the low 50’s. Even if you stick a box of wine a few feet in front of the evaporator it is not going to have any ill effects. After all, wine is not affected by wind chill.

Sorry your wines were not what you wanted, but I don’t think your locker being in the airflow was a factor.

I had a min/max thermometer in there, the temp difference was between 10 and 15 degrees (note the locker was relatively close to the cooler output). I had wines stored at home (higher but not as extreme fluctuating temps) that showed as expected. The locker position’s the reasonable factor here imo.

[Chuck_Miller]

I don’t buy this. Assume the facility is at 55 degrees. To maintain that, a commercial system will typically output air at about 49 degrees, which immediately begins to mix with the ambient 55 degree air. My compressors (redundant) run maybe 10% of the time, the fans run 24/7. So 90% of the time they are simply moving around 55 degree air, and 10% of the time they are blowing something in the low 50’s. Even if you stick a box of wine a few feet in front of the evaporator it is not going to have any ill effects. After all, wine is not affected by wind chill.

Sorry your wines were not what you wanted, but I don’t think your locker being in the airflow was a factor.

I had a min/max thermometer in there, the temp difference was between 10 and 15 degrees. I had wines stored at home (higher but not as extreme fluctuating temps) that showed as expected. The locker position’s the reasonable factor here imo.

I suppose it is possible, but not likely, if the system was grossly underconfigured where an undersized unit had to pump out extremely cold air to maintain temp. That would also cause the humidity to be lowered.

[Mel_Knox]

If temperature is the issue, wouldn’t the wine tasted maderized ?? What is the humidity inside the cooler?? This story is strange.

[Chuck_Miller]

i think you would get slightly cooked or stewy before you would get to maderized.

[Anton_D]

If temperature is the issue, wouldn’t the wine tasted maderized ?? What is the humidity inside the cooler?? This story is strange.

On some threads we are too snarky, and on others we get catfished.

[Jim_Stewart]

A saboteur! Do you have a maid ?

[YLee]

Is there any way your cooler is getting fluctuating power? Shutting off then on, etc. Shrug

[Ian_Sutton]

Someone needs to find better reading material! Don’t worry about the light. Nothing is happening to the wine because of it. Ever go into a wine store?

The (increasing) problem of lightstrike

[John_Morris]

Someone needs to find better reading material! Don’t worry about the light. Nothing is happening to the wine because of it. Ever go into a wine store?

The (increasing) problem of lightstrike | JancisRobinson.com

Thanks, Ian. That’s an interesting article. I was not a skeptic like Greg, but this explains the issue – and the speed with which damage can occur – very clearly.