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Posted to alt.food.wine
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Wine refrigerators revisited
On Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:25:56 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
Your guide's office was probably a worse environment than your cellar,
and I hope you store your bottles horizontally. It is also possible
your guide was bullshitting, merely tasting what he expected, and/or
just experiencing natural bottle variation. I wouldn't rely too much
on anecdotes from a single person.
Traditional wisdom (there is little expermintal evidence about wine
storage temperature) has it that daily variations are more damaging
than constant highish temperatures. Assuming your 60-80 variation is
mainly due to winter-summer, I think you are PROBABLY alright. It
must roughly correspond to the "understairs" environment that is
talked about over in the UK. That said, I agree with what others have
said - that if you are storing more dleicate wines for longer periods
you should be more concerned.
It also depends on the value of your wine and your general finances.
If the cost of your fridge is so much greater than the value of your
wines, it seems a little silly, but on the other hand if you can
afford a wine fridge, why not? If you have a fridge you could even do
some experiments and anwer your own question 
Rather vague advice I am afraid, but I hope it has helped a little.
--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher
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