Lesser of 2 evils

[GreggJ]

Good Day All,

I have a question, I recently moved into a new house, approx 9 mos ago. Now in my old home my basement maintained a natural temp of 58-70* depending on the season, which worked out great for wine celaring. However, I am realizing that my new basement flucutates a bit more. I have a thermometer down there and with the recent heatwaves in the NE it reached as high as 77*. Now I have about 10 cases of wine in my cellar that I am cellaring. I was wondering what is the liklihood that prolonged exposure, 2 mos or so, to this type of heat will damage the wine?

I have a 60 bottle wine fridge that I keep some of the more expensive wines in. I also have a spare standard refrigerator in the basement that I could put about 100 bottles in. However, at the lowest setting the fridge maintains about 40-42*

My question; is it better to keep the wine in the standard fridge in the summer months and expose them to greater rapid changes in temp. 72 degrees at present to 40*? or is it better to expose them to less variation of temps and let the natural ebb and flow of the basement acclimate themselves? The basment is typically around 70-72 degrees in the summer but, did hit approx 77 during the recent heat wave.

Thanks in advance for your time and knowledge.

[Innkeeper]

We are about 50 miles northeast of you, and have held at 70 degrees or less this summer. I would not worry about the spike to 77 if the alterative is 40 with vibrations. My advice is to hang in there for the rest of the summer unless it goes over 80. If it does, get them into the fridge ASAP. If you find that you have a lot of 70 plus over the summer, you may want to consider something less passive for next year.

[hotwine]

You might also try to minimize temperature fluctuations with insulation, either for the entire basement or for a corner where your wines are stored. Drywall on a simple stud frame is simple and inexpensive to install, and when covered with blue foamcore insulation might provide just enough protection to let your trophies sleep undisturbed. If you do that, be sure to include polyvinyl sheeting to form a vapor barrier, so that you also control relative humidity in the storage space.