Doesn't get newer than me!

[RyanH]

Well, between seeing a John Cleese special called Wine for the Confused, followed by a DIY show on a guy making his own wine cellar, I suddenly find myself unexplainably drawn to the world of wine. The organization, the collectability, and the wide range of opinions on the subject really grabs my interest. I've spent the better part of the day trying to get a handle on the different kinds of wines, what their characteristics are, etc.

I've learned things about how to properly taste wine, what kinds go with what food, storage methods, etc.

I understand that there are optimal temperatures and humidity levels to store wine in, but what I haven't seen an answer to is this: if I let my wine get above a certain temperature, is it automatically trash? What if I'm bringing my wine home from the store on a particularaly hot southern california day and it gets up to 90 degrees F? Should I just go ahead and throw it out? I've never seen any info on whether or not there's a "breaking point" for wine.

For instance, I recently found 3 bottles boxed up that I kept for purely sentimental value, but they had been in a storage facility which I dont doubt got over 100 degrees F for several days. Are these now trash? Or is a wine that got hot rescuable by simply bringing it down to a proper drinking temperature before opening?