my storage

[joeyz6]

When I get home to Chicago, I'm going to have a considerable amount more wine than when I left ... guess why. Anyway, I need to buy additional storage. Right now my wine that is in Chicago is just sitting on a basic rack in the basement. The temperature goes as high as 72-74 degrees in the summer and as low as 55-58 in the winter. The humidity is appropriate.<BR>Most of my wine is for consumption in the next two or three years, but I have a few bottles that I would like to age. For those few, can I leave them for five to 10 years in the basement like they are now? Or should I buy a temperature-controlled unit? If so, I'll look at past threads for specific advice on which one to buy.

[joeyz6]

oops, I meant to put this on the storage thread ... maybe Jackie could move it.

[hotwine]

Joe, in my experience, wines begin to cook at roughly 70 degrees. Storage at temps between 60-70 is probably OK for a while (What's a while? Have no idea.), but when the temp goes above 70, many wines seem to begin their death spiral, and that can end quickly or be dragged out a long time. I still have a few wines in the cellar that were acquired well before installation of the chiller last June, and have been surprised that some are still good. In general, it seems that the German Rieslings have held up better than all others. Don't know why. Can only say if you're going to return home with some gems, highly recommend you obtain good storage immediately on your return. It wouldn't make sense to go to the trouble of lugging good stuff home, only to have it turn to mush after just a few short months.

[joeyz6]

OK, that makes sense ... kinda what I figured. Now to find an affordable unit ... I'll look for sales when I get home.

[hotwine]

Check the big warehouse stores when you get back.... Sam's Club, Costco, Home Depot, Lowes.... have seen smallish units of 24-34 bottles at each of those in the last year or so, at pretty good prices (&lt;$300).

[joeyz6]

Thanks hotwine, I'll try those places. By the way, another question I had: What is the difference between a small wine storage unit and a refrigerator?

[hotwine]

Their designed operating characteristics are different. A refrigerator's thermostat typically can be varied between 34 and 42 degrees, more or less, while that of a wine cooler is designed to hold the temperature between 55-60 degrees. And their humidity levels are different, with that of the fridge being about 40%, more or less, and that of a wine cooler in the 60-70% range. There are kits available for modifying refrigerator thermostats to operate at the higher temperatures that are more appropriate to wine storage, but have not heard how well they work. <P>I've moved a little Radio Shack thermometer/humidity gauge into the family fridge from the wine cooler in the laundry room, where it had been showing 57F and 66% humidity; will post on the fridge's readings shortly, to see if I remembered correctly the "normal" values for a fridge.<P>Yup, it's currently showing 34F and 51% humidity; the latter value might fall a bit further with a longer exposure, dunno. But you get the idea.<p>[This message has been edited by hotwine (edited 02-16-2003).]

[hotwine]

Humi-ditty is now down to 43%. Have returned the little widget to its home in the (smaller) wine fridge.

[joeyz6]

Thanks hotwine! One more question: Do wine storage units tend to use a lot of electricity? Is it going to drive up the electricity bill?

[hotwine]

Nope. I've not been able to detect any impact on the untility bill at all, and that's with three units running full-time: an HEC unit from China, EuroCave from France, and the cellar's Trenton Refrigeration system from Noo Joisey.