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cwdjrxyz cwdjrxyz is offline
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Default Newbie: Storing champagne at room temperature

On Oct 19, 9:02 pm, Mark Lipton > wrote:
> Chris M wrote:
> > Thanks. Out of curiosity, how long would it last outside the fridge?
> > It's been outside the fridge for about 4 weeks now, so I'm wondering
> > if it has started to die already.

>
> Heat damage is a subtle thing, Chris, and Champagne unfortunately is
> particularly susceptible to heat-related damage in my experience. What
> you're likely to find is that the wine is still very nice, but might
> seem a bit less fruity than one that's been stored under cooler
> conditions. Leave it at 75-80° for another month, and it might start
> tasting oxidized (think of the flavor of browned apples) and lose its
> fruit altogether (at which point folks could call it "maderized").
> That's pretty easy to spot.
>
> HTH
> Mark Lipton
>
> --
> alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com


One other thing to consider is that the Champagne may have been
sitting in a warm store, or even a hot warehouse, for up to many
months before you buy it. This was enough of a problem several years
ago in some parts of the US that one Champagne house, it may have been
Bollinger, started shipping their very expensive RD Champagne only on
special order. If you ever buy several bottles of Champagne at once,
first buy a single bottle and open it unless someone at the store that
you trust can give you a history of how the wine has been stored. One
retailer I knew many years ago said she would not buy high quality
wine from a certain distributor, because they stored the wine in a
warm warehouse.