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at the present time i am unable to maintain a 55-65 farenheit temperature and 75% humiditythat is recomended for reds. what i am able to accomplish isa stable 71 degrees and about 40% humidity. how bad is this for my collection. all i have is and apartment and unable to afford a proper storage device.
thanks, jason
Follow Ups:
If you live in a city, there's probably a professional storage facility somewhere nearby. Look in the phone book. They tend not to charge too much for the number of bottles you're talking about ($1-2 per case per month). As others have noted, without proper storage you're wasting your money buying expensive wine.
and what you intend to do with it.Do you own Bordeaux that you want to cellar for 20 years, white Hermitage you wish to keep for 10?
You better buy a refrigerated wine cellar unit. If you intend keeping a couple of thousand dollars worth of wine, the 200-300 investment is well worth it.
Is your collection whites you are going to drink in a year and reds you are keeping 2-3? Keep the whites in the fridge and don't worry about the reds.
they are 95% cali. cab's. some of which i would like to keep for ten yrs. at the most. '97 opus one, '98 richard partridge, etc... around 30 bottles now. more in the future.
and your wines will suffer for lack of proper storage. Buy less wine and buy storage.You have your choices. You can say "I can't afford it" which is laughable from someone who spends over $50 for a bottle of wine, and hope that 10 years from now your wine is not over-matured, a dried out husk of what it could have been; You can say "I can't afford it" and live like you realize you can't afford it, IOW, since you can't afford a wine cellar don't buy wines that need cellaring; you can look at the situation realistically and find the money to take care of what you already own.
Home Depot is moving into the wine storage business - check their prices
If you have a masonry cellar in your house, and have a place where it's dark, put wine on racks against the walls. You don't need the 55/58 degrees unless you have super expensive wines you don't want to take a risk with.
My cellar ranges 64 degrees in winter to about 75 in summer. My wines are keeping very well and I try to drink most within 3-5 years.
If it gets warm in summer, you can put a blanket over your rack to keep the temp consistent. Keep the more expensive wines on the bottom shelves where it's cooler. It's best if the floor is concrete; that helps.
Once you open your red wine.... let it breathe for at least 30 minutes before drinking. This has nothingto do with the storage but it's something most people don't have patience for.
I have been taught that Bordeaux wine will last [10] years under these conditions. The better the vintage, the longer it will last.
If you have an apartment, you can keep your wine in a closet during winter do nothing. In summer, it would be smart to air condition that room the closet's in. The humidity thing is just about the corks drying out. But the technology today keeps those corks in excellent shape in dry or humid weather. The secret is: no SUDDEN temperature change.
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
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