Just a comment Trevor (and welcome back). I was touring a large winery in
California. They of course did have temperature controlled storage. They
had us taste the same wine bottled in 750, 1.500 and 3.00 litter bottles.
The larger the bottle, the smoother the wine tasted. They just said wine
aged in larger bottles is better. But they were storing them in temperature
controlled areas. I know this contradicts even what I have said and I have
no suggested explanation.

Ray

"Trevor A Panther" > wrote in message
. uk...
> Ray is spot on ---- as he often is! Fluctuating temperature has a
> condsiderable effect on aging wines.
>
> Certainly if you have a real cellar that is temperature stable, with no
> more
> than a few degrees variation, then bottle aging and bulk aging will tend
> to
> be the same.
> However very few amateur vintners have the luxury of such a cellar and we
> store as and when we can. That being so, and where the aging wine has to
> endure a larger range of fluctuating temperature, then bulk aging is much
> to
> be prefered since the larger volume of wine is inherently more resistant
> to
> temperature change.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ray Calvert" >
> Newsgroups: rec.crafts.winemaking
> Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 5:56 PM
> Subject: POLL : To bottle or "bulk age(in carboy)" your wine?
> <snip><snip>
> >A bottle is a
>> small amount and will change temperature faster and be effected by
>> temperature change. A large amount takes longer to change temperature
>> and will be effected less. Temperature change may be more detrimental
>> than the wrong temperature.
> <snip><snip>
>
>>
>
>