Hello,

I have a quick question. I'm by no means a wine connoisseur, but my
girlfriend and I had a number of bottles of wine, both red and white in
our cupboard and some we purchased, that we placed in the fridge for a
party we had. Not all bottles were consumed, and now we have about 5
bottles in the fridge taking up alot of space. We have a wine rack,
and I wanted to move them to the rack, but if it will spoil them, I
guess we can leave them in there until we drink them.

So, will moving red/white wines from a cold fridge to the wine rack on
our counter spoil the wines even so much that an average wine drinker
like myself would notice a big difference?

Thanks!

On 20 Jan 2007 12:05:28 -0800, "Andrew" > wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I have a quick question. I'm by no means a wine connoisseur, but my
>girlfriend and I had a number of bottles of wine, both red and white in
>our cupboard and some we purchased, that we placed in the fridge for a
>party we had. Not all bottles were consumed, and now we have about 5
>bottles in the fridge taking up alot of space. We have a wine rack,
>and I wanted to move them to the rack, but if it will spoil them, I
>guess we can leave them in there until we drink them.
>
>So, will moving red/white wines from a cold fridge to the wine rack on
>our counter spoil the wines even so much that an average wine drinker
>like myself would notice a big difference?
>
>Thanks!

No.

Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

Ed Rasimus wrote:
> On 20 Jan 2007 12:05:28 -0800, "Andrew" > wrote:
>
> >Hello,
> >
> >I have a quick question. I'm by no means a wine connoisseur, but my
> >girlfriend and I had a number of bottles of wine, both red and white in
> >our cupboard and some we purchased, that we placed in the fridge for a
> >party we had. Not all bottles were consumed, and now we have about 5
> >bottles in the fridge taking up alot of space. We have a wine rack,
> >and I wanted to move them to the rack, but if it will spoil them, I
> >guess we can leave them in there until we drink them.
> >
> >So, will moving red/white wines from a cold fridge to the wine rack on
> >our counter spoil the wines even so much that an average wine drinker
> >like myself would notice a big difference?
> >
> >Thanks!
>
> No.
>
> Ed Rasimus
> Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
> "When Thunder Rolled"
> www.thunderchief.org
> www.thundertales.blogspot.com

I assume, no, as in, they will be fine?

"Andrew" > skrev i melding
ups.com...
>
> Ed Rasimus wrote:
>> On 20 Jan 2007 12:05:28 -0800, "Andrew" > wrote:
>>
>> >Hello,
>> >
>> >So, will moving red/white wines from a cold fridge to the wine rack on
>> >our counter spoil the wines even so much that an average wine drinker
>> >like myself would notice a big difference?
>> >
>> >Thanks!
>>
>> No.
>>
Depends...
I guess you'll consume them fairly quickly. If so, go ahead.
But, if that rack is in the kitchen and the temperature is above 70F and
you're going to leave them there some months - you'd better pour'em down the
drain.
Find a nice dark closet with below 65 or 60 degrees F and voilà, you can
keep'em several months, no problem :-)
hth
Anders

>> >So, will moving red/white wines from a cold fridge to the wine rack on
>> >our counter spoil the wines even so much that an average wine drinker
>> >like myself would notice a big difference?
>
>I assume, no, as in, they will be fine?

Yes

No, really - they will be fine. The colour of the wine is immaterial.
If you move the wines to and from the fridge every day for the next
few years it might well affect them. But once or twice, no problem.

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

Anders Tørneskog wrote:
> "Andrew" > skrev i melding
> ups.com...
> >
> > Ed Rasimus wrote:
> >> On 20 Jan 2007 12:05:28 -0800, "Andrew" > wrote:
> >>
> >> >Hello,
> >> >
> >> >So, will moving red/white wines from a cold fridge to the wine rack on
> >> >our counter spoil the wines even so much that an average wine drinker
> >> >like myself would notice a big difference?
> >> >
> >> >Thanks!
> >>
> >> No.
> >>
> Depends...
> I guess you'll consume them fairly quickly. If so, go ahead.
> But, if that rack is in the kitchen and the temperature is above 70F and
> you're going to leave them there some months - you'd better pour'em down the
> drain.
> Find a nice dark closet with below 65 or 60 degrees F and voilà, you can
> keep'em several months, no problem :-)
> hth
> Anders

The kitchen is usually < 70 for sure. In the 67-68 range. But
regardless, we'll be drinking them within 6 months probably.

Thanks for your help everyone!

On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:49:11 +0100, "Anders Tørneskog"
> wrote:

>I guess you'll consume them fairly quickly. If so, go ahead.
>But, if that rack is in the kitchen and the temperature is above 70F and
>you're going to leave them there some months - you'd better pour'em down the
>drain.

I beg to differ. Depends how much above 70 of course, but if you're
talking about a few degrees, they'll be fine for several months.

Several years, or a few decades, and it would be a different story.
Even then I would try them before pouring them down the drain!

As a rule of thumb the wine will develop twice as fast for each 10degC
increase in temp. And if there is some bret in the wine the elevated
temp might encourage that to develop even faster.

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

A quick change in temperature is not good--going to a refrigerator to a rack
next to stove, room temp over 72 degrees, will be a problem as will using
the microwave. Find a cool dark place and if you want transfer to a wine
rack in a room 68-70 degrees, the trip to a cool area will minimize bottle
shock. Or you could just invite afw over to remove the problem.
"Anders Tørneskog" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Andrew" > skrev i melding
> ups.com...
> >
> > Ed Rasimus wrote:
> >> On 20 Jan 2007 12:05:28 -0800, "Andrew" > wrote:
> >>
> >> >Hello,
> >> >
> >> >So, will moving red/white wines from a cold fridge to the wine rack on
> >> >our counter spoil the wines even so much that an average wine drinker
> >> >like myself would notice a big difference?
> >> >
> >> >Thanks!
> >>
> >> No.
> >>
> Depends...
> I guess you'll consume them fairly quickly. If so, go ahead.
> But, if that rack is in the kitchen and the temperature is above 70F and
> you're going to leave them there some months - you'd better pour'em down
the
> drain.
> Find a nice dark closet with below 65 or 60 degrees F and voilà, you can
> keep'em several months, no problem :-)
> hth
> Anders
>
>

On 20 Jan 2007 13:30:54 -0800, "Andrew" > wrote:

>> >So, will moving red/white wines from a cold fridge to the wine rack on
>> >our counter spoil the wines even so much that an average wine drinker
>> >like myself would notice a big difference?
>> >
>> >Thanks!
>>
>> No.
>>
>> Ed Rasimus
>
>I assume, no, as in, they will be fine?

You assume correctly. Removing the wine from the fridge and allowing
it to return to room temp will have no impact that you will notice.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

Andrew wrote:
>
> I assume, no, as in, they will be fine?

Andrew, We are assuming, I gather, that your leftover bottles are
unopened. If they are open, "they will be fine" does not apply.

Andy

Steve Slatcher wrote:

> No, really - they will be fine. The colour of the wine is immaterial.
> If you move the wines to and from the fridge every day for the next
> few years it might well affect them. But once or twice, no problem.
>

In Phoenix all one has to do is set their wine in a rack in an open room
for a few months and run the risk of losing some. Even though the A/C
is running at 70F or so the daily temperature swings in any given part
of the house can be excessive and damage the wine. Lost too many
bottles before I installed a wine cooler for my collection.

Andrew wrote:

> The kitchen is usually < 70 for sure. In the 67-68 range. But
> regardless, we'll be drinking them within 6 months probably.

Whats more important than the actual temperature is stability. If your
kitchen is 67-68 day or night every day then no problem for 6 months.
If that part of the house experiences 10+ degree swings from night to
day that could be a problem.

"Anders Tørneskog" > wrote in message
...
>
> Depends...
> I guess you'll consume them fairly quickly. If so, go ahead.
> But, if that rack is in the kitchen and the temperature is above 70F and
> you're going to leave them there some months - you'd better pour'em down the
> drain.
> Find a nice dark closet with below 65 or 60 degrees F and voilà, you can
> keep'em several months, no problem :-)
> hth

What about storing an aged red in the fridge just to keep it at a reasonably
constant temperature temporarily? I imagine it wouldn't develop, but would it do
any damage?

David

P.S. Today I received the '84 Grange that I mentioned in an earlier thread. It's
to be consumed on Friday. The forecast is for low and mid-20C days until then,
and around 15C at night, though the range in the house would be less than that.

Refrigerators often have odors that could penetrate a bottle even closed.
This is called "the Bumstead" phenomena. Onion smells & merlot don't mix,
ditto for pomegranates, ricotta cheese and gefilte fish and of course
chitterlings. The Berkeley Institute of Bad Things has an ongoing study on
this topic led by Ozzy Osbourne, PhD.
"David W" > wrote in message
...
> "Anders Tørneskog" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Depends...
> > I guess you'll consume them fairly quickly. If so, go ahead.
> > But, if that rack is in the kitchen and the temperature is above 70F and
> > you're going to leave them there some months - you'd better pour'em down
the
> > drain.
> > Find a nice dark closet with below 65 or 60 degrees F and voilà, you can
> > keep'em several months, no problem :-)
> > hth
>
> What about storing an aged red in the fridge just to keep it at a
reasonably
> constant temperature temporarily? I imagine it wouldn't develop, but would
it do
> any damage?
>
> David
>
> P.S. Today I received the '84 Grange that I mentioned in an earlier
thread. It's
> to be consumed on Friday. The forecast is for low and mid-20C days until
then,
> and around 15C at night, though the range in the house would be less than
that.
>
>

In article >,
"David W" > wrote:

> "Anders Tørneskog" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Depends...
> > I guess you'll consume them fairly quickly. If so, go ahead.
> > But, if that rack is in the kitchen and the temperature is above 70F and
> > you're going to leave them there some months - you'd better pour'em down
> > the
> > drain.
> > Find a nice dark closet with below 65 or 60 degrees F and voilà, you can
> > keep'em several months, no problem :-)
> > hth
>
> What about storing an aged red in the fridge just to keep it at a reasonably
> constant temperature temporarily? I imagine it wouldn't develop, but would it
> do
> any damage?
>
> David
>
> P.S. Today I received the '84 Grange that I mentioned in an earlier thread.
> It's
> to be consumed on Friday. The forecast is for low and mid-20C days until
> then,
> and around 15C at night, though the range in the house would be less than
> that.

What would be the point of sticking red wine in a refrigerator in the
first place. Watched a Wine Library video of his tasting of a really
good red given as a gift but not stored well for 12-15 years. The wine
was still great and his point was that wine is fairly resilient. Heat
only speeds aging unless the wine gets hot enough to seep from the
bottle or push the cork. Don't stress over short-term storage. And
refrigerators are bad for long-term storage because they deteriorate the
corks and are too cold to allow any aging.

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 10:08:52 -0500, Lawrence Leichtman
> wrote:

>What would be the point of sticking red wine in a refrigerator in the
>first place. Watched a Wine Library video of his tasting of a really
>good red given as a gift but not stored well for 12-15 years. The wine
>was still great and his point was that wine is fairly resilient. Heat
>only speeds aging unless the wine gets hot enough to seep from the
>bottle or push the cork. Don't stress over short-term storage. And
>refrigerators are bad for long-term storage because they deteriorate the
>corks and are too cold to allow any aging.

Ahh, a light of reason in a sea of balderdash.

Wine is resilient. Drinking it hot is probably not pleasant, but
easily avoided. Storing it at room temperature for days, weeks, months
or even a year or two is probably not going to be detrimental. That's
what goes on with the stock in wine stores around the world!

Great wines, held for decades, require some consistency, but for the
wines that most of us can afford and for the length of time that most
of us can keep them the daily variances of the household aren't a
major player.

There is, however, a huge industry devoted to selling multi-thousand
dollar wine cabinets and building exotic "cellars" that are temp and
humidity controlled with filtered lights so that your precious wines
are suitably coddled and preserved so that in a future evening of
Bacchanalian excess you can knock over a glass and stain the
tablecloth.

Don't freeze it, don't boil it, and don't let it go to waste after the
cork is pulled.

Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:16:09 GMT, Ed Rasimus
> wrote:

>Don't freeze it, don't boil it, and don't let it go to waste after the
>cork is pulled.

I'm not even sure that freezing wine would damage it, but I don't
intend to find out. But, er, yes... keep below boiling point is
certainly sound advice

--
Steve Slatcher
http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher

"Lawrence Leichtman" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "David W" > wrote:
>
> > "Anders Tørneskog" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > >
> > > Depends...
> > > I guess you'll consume them fairly quickly. If so, go ahead.
> > > But, if that rack is in the kitchen and the temperature is above 70F and
> > > you're going to leave them there some months - you'd better pour'em down
> > > the
> > > drain.
> > > Find a nice dark closet with below 65 or 60 degrees F and voilà, you can
> > > keep'em several months, no problem :-)
> > > hth
> >
> > What about storing an aged red in the fridge just to keep it at a reasonably
> > constant temperature temporarily? I imagine it wouldn't develop, but would it
> > do
> > any damage?
> >
> > David
> >
> > P.S. Today I received the '84 Grange that I mentioned in an earlier thread.
> > It's
> > to be consumed on Friday. The forecast is for low and mid-20C days until
> > then,
> > and around 15C at night, though the range in the house would be less than
> > that.
>
> What would be the point of sticking red wine in a refrigerator in the
> first place.

You might want to keep it for an occasion in a month or two, so it's either the fridge or the house. Around
here the house can reach 35 C on hot days and cool to < 20 at night. Maybe the fridge would be better than
a couple of months of that.

Another possibility, though a little desperate, is to bury it in the garden. A couple of feet down it's a
steady, mild temperature.

> Watched a Wine Library video of his tasting of a really
> good red given as a gift but not stored well for 12-15 years. The wine
> was still great and his point was that wine is fairly resilient. Heat
> only speeds aging unless the wine gets hot enough to seep from the
> bottle or push the cork. Don't stress over short-term storage. And
> refrigerators are bad for long-term storage because they deteriorate the
> corks and are too cold to allow any aging.

David

Ed Rasimus wrote:

> Wine is resilient. Drinking it hot is probably not pleasant, but
> easily avoided. Storing it at room temperature for days, weeks, months
> or even a year or two is probably not going to be detrimental. That's
> what goes on with the stock in wine stores around the world!
>
> Great wines, held for decades, require some consistency, but for the
> wines that most of us can afford and for the length of time that most
> of us can keep them the daily variances of the household aren't a
> major player.

You obviously do not live in Phoenix or anywhere else thats sunny and
warm! Wines will go bad in a matter of months if kept out in an open
room. I assume the problem is large temperature swings in many parts of
the house from day to night even with the A/C running.

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 06:19:48 -0700, miles > wrote:

>Ed Rasimus wrote:
>
>> Wine is resilient. Drinking it hot is probably not pleasant, but
>> easily avoided. Storing it at room temperature for days, weeks, months
>> or even a year or two is probably not going to be detrimental. That's
>> what goes on with the stock in wine stores around the world!
>>
>> Great wines, held for decades, require some consistency, but for the
>> wines that most of us can afford and for the length of time that most
>> of us can keep them the daily variances of the household aren't a
>> major player.
>
>You obviously do not live in Phoenix or anywhere else thats sunny and
>warm! Wines will go bad in a matter of months if kept out in an open
>room. I assume the problem is large temperature swings in many parts of
>the house from day to night even with the A/C running.

Well, I did go through about 80 straight days of temps over 100F last
summer in N. Texas, and in the past I've lived in Phoenix (Mesa,
actually), Las Vegas, Alamorgordo, San Antonio and other hot climes.
I've never experienced a bottle of wine going bad from exposure for a
couple of months in the living area of a house.

I certainly wouldn't recommend attic storage or garage, but almost
anyplace that I could tolerate the temps for residence, my wine is
equally at home.

I wouldn't counsel long term storage, but for most of us dealing with
routine purchases of wine from the local emporium (where conditions
are usually worse than home in terms of vertical storage and exposure
to light), consumption in a matter of weeks or even a month or two
shouldn't require any great investment in storage facilities. And, I
definitely would not deny myself the wine because I lacked the cellar
to properly keep it.

Reminds me, though of the couple of bottles of Ridge that I took on a
road trip to Sedona two years ago that had the corks back out from the
heat--despite that abuse, they were drinkable and enjoyable--I
wouldn't have returned them to the rack however.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

Ed Rasimus wrote:

> Well, I did go through about 80 straight days of temps over 100F last
> summer in N. Texas, and in the past I've lived in Phoenix (Mesa,
> actually), Las Vegas, Alamorgordo, San Antonio and other hot climes.
> I've never experienced a bottle of wine going bad from exposure for a
> couple of months in the living area of a house.

I and many others I know have lost quite a bit of wine from keeping it
on racks in the living room etc. Generally the result is the wine
becomes flat with little complexity remaining. When I go to buy wines
but have other stops to make I bring an ice chest to keep things cool in
the car. A couple hours in a hot car will kill wine quick!

Lawrence Leichtman wrote:

> In article
> >,
> "David W" > wrote:
>
>> "Anders Tørneskog" >
>> wrote in message
>>
...
>> >
>> > Depends...
>> > I guess you'll consume them fairly quickly.
>> > If so, go ahead. But, if that rack is in the
>> > kitchen and the temperature is above 70F and
>> > you're going to leave them there some months
>> > - you'd better pour'em down the drain.
>> > Find a nice dark closet with below 65 or 60
>> > degrees F and voilà, you can keep'em several
>> > months, no problem :-) hth
>>
>> What about storing an aged red in the fridge
>> just to keep it at a reasonably constant
>> temperature temporarily? I imagine it wouldn't
>> develop, but would it do any damage?
>>
>> David
>>
>> P.S. Today I received the '84 Grange that I
>> mentioned in an earlier thread. It's
>> to be consumed on Friday. The forecast is for
>> low and mid-20C days until then,
>> and around 15C at night, though the range in
>> the house would be less than that.
>
> What would be the point of sticking red wine in
> a refrigerator in the first place. Watched a
> Wine Library video of his tasting of a really
> good red given as a gift but not stored well for
> 12-15 years. The wine was still great and his
> point was that wine is fairly resilient. Heat
> only speeds aging unless the wine gets hot
> enough to seep from the bottle or push the cork.
> Don't stress over short-term storage. And
> refrigerators are bad for long-term storage
> because they deteriorate the corks and are too
> cold to allow any aging.

Pure Bullshit.

In article >,
"Paul E. Lehmann" > wrote:

> Lawrence Leichtman wrote:
>
> > In article
> > >,
> > "David W" > wrote:
> >
> >> "Anders Tørneskog" >
> >> wrote in message
> >>
> ...
> >> >
> >> > Depends...
> >> > I guess you'll consume them fairly quickly.
> >> > If so, go ahead. But, if that rack is in the
> >> > kitchen and the temperature is above 70F and
> >> > you're going to leave them there some months
> >> > - you'd better pour'em down the drain.
> >> > Find a nice dark closet with below 65 or 60
> >> > degrees F and voilà, you can keep'em several
> >> > months, no problem :-) hth
> >>
> >> What about storing an aged red in the fridge
> >> just to keep it at a reasonably constant
> >> temperature temporarily? I imagine it wouldn't
> >> develop, but would it do any damage?
> >>
> >> David
> >>
> >> P.S. Today I received the '84 Grange that I
> >> mentioned in an earlier thread. It's
> >> to be consumed on Friday. The forecast is for
> >> low and mid-20C days until then,
> >> and around 15C at night, though the range in
> >> the house would be less than that.
> >
> > What would be the point of sticking red wine in
> > a refrigerator in the first place. Watched a
> > Wine Library video of his tasting of a really
> > good red given as a gift but not stored well for
> > 12-15 years. The wine was still great and his
> > point was that wine is fairly resilient. Heat
> > only speeds aging unless the wine gets hot
> > enough to seep from the bottle or push the cork.
> > Don't stress over short-term storage. And
> > refrigerators are bad for long-term storage
> > because they deteriorate the corks and are too
> > cold to allow any aging.
>
> Pure Bullshit.

And that is based on what. I have been given wines that were badly
stored and still did well. What do you base your ill-informed statement
on.

It shouldn't hurt it any more than storing it at that temperature (70)
iin the first place.On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 16:42:10 -0700, miles
> wrote:

>Steve Slatcher wrote:
>
>> No, really - they will be fine. The colour of the wine is immaterial.
>> If you move the wines to and from the fridge every day for the next
>> few years it might well affect them. But once or twice, no problem.
>>
>
>In Phoenix all one has to do is set their wine in a rack in an open room
>for a few months and run the risk of losing some. Even though the A/C
>is running at 70F or so the daily temperature swings in any given part
>of the house can be excessive and damage the wine. Lost too many
>bottles before I installed a wine cooler for my collection.

Jim Lamplighter wrote:
> It shouldn't hurt it any more than storing it at that temperature (70)
> iin the first place.

Temperature stability is often more important than the actual
temperature itself. Moderately large temperature swings in an open room
kills wine.