Doesn't get newer than me!

[Thomas]

Ryan,

First your last question: once cooked, a wine is not to be rescued.

To your main question: generally, a wine stored at high temperatures begins to cook. How long it takes for the wine to cook out of existence is based on how long it remains at high temperature and how stable it was going into storage. In other words, every wine is ruined at a separate pace.

A wine stored at fluctuating temperatures is usually doubly ruined. Again, it all matters how long and the condition of the wine going in.

If a wine has been subjected to such treatment, the best thing to consider is that it likely is not doing well, open it and find out--sometimes you can be surprised that it held up, but it will unlikely be as good as another bottle of the same wine that had been stored under optimum conditions.

As for taking wine home from the store. If your car is air conditioned you are fine. But if your wine reaches 90 degrees in the car for an hour, it generally will have started to cook. You may even see signs of it--leaking or cork pushing out as the liquid expands and the pressure builds.

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 07-24-2006).]