short term storage conditions

[Duane Meissner]

being a poor grad student we keep our thermostat at around 75-80 degrees (would rather spend the money on wine). Will keeping a few nice bottles at this temperature for up to several weeks compromise the wine (no sunlight)? I assume this is better than throwing it in the fridge??

DM

[Bucko]

No problem at all. It is extreme, sudden temperature changes that kill a wine. I always have to smile when people put wine in their trunk on 90+ degree days and drive around for hours (such as touring Napa Valley). I have read trunk temps can get up to 140 degrees in a short amount of time.

[Thomas]

I disagree with Bucko on this--is that unusual? [img]http://wines.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

Sure, temperature fluctuation is a problem, but so is less than optimum storage temperature, and that temperature is universally considered to be much lower than 75 F.

Wine resting between 75 and 80 will generally speed up its downhill process--even if the speed is slow by our standards, it will be faster than the optimum race to the bottom.

The problem you really have is to know when an individual wine will die; they all have their own structure and time.

You should be ok for truly short term storage (a couple of months). Beyond that, I don't trust the temperature you mention. I've seen leakage after a few hours at 80 F.

[Duane Meissner]

Thanks to you both. I try not to let anything sit longer than a couple weeks. Sounds like should be OK.

DM

[wineguruchgo]

Being a poor grad student I'm guessing that you probably don't have a lot in your fridge.

If it's going to be a short period of time why not just put reds in the door of the fridge and whites in the interior?

I would think that would be better than the alternative.

[Thomas]

A good idea. Wine generally doesn't suffer from refrigeration temps.

[Duane Meissner]

Thanks! Will do. You're right in assuming I don't have much in my fridge. Ramen doesn't require cooling [img]http://wines.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

On a somewhat related note, I understand that the optimal serving temp for most reds is in the upper 60s. Most of the tasters at my upcoming Italian Red tasting, however, will be uncomfortable if I have my AC turned down lower than about 72. Should I "chill" the bottles a few degrees shortly before serving, or will the small deviance not effect the tasting experience?

[This message has been edited by Duane Meissner (edited 07-06-2008).]

[Bucko]

Why do you ssy we're disagreeing, Foodie. He said a few weeks. There's no way a few weeks at 80 will hurt a wine unless you want long term storage.

There is a rule-of-thumb physics/liquid equation that shows that for every 10 degrees above 55 degrees, the aging doubles for each 10 degree increase.

So, from 55 to 65, one year of aging equals two years. From 55 to 75 it equals four years. From 55 to 85 it equals eight years.

So if you take a young wine and lay it down at 85 degrees for a year, it will theoretically be the same as aging for eight years (there's more to it, but we're being general here).

Aging your wines at 75-80 degrees for a few weeks before consumption will NOT cause them harm, period. You CAN cause them harm in a very short time with extreme heat.