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Wine (alt.food.wine) Devoted to the discussion of wine and wine-related topics. A place to read and comment about wines, wine and food matching, storage systems, wine paraphernalia, etc. In general, any topic related to wine is valid fodder for the group. |
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Wine refrigerators revisited
I reviewed the posting history of this newsgroup on the subject of
wine refrigerators. I'd love to hear more opinions. I'm about to make a big decision and could use good advice. My wife and I just returned from California's Napa and Sonoma counties where we bought a few cases which will be arriving shortly. The tour guide at Joseph Phelps said he could taste the difference between a bottle of left upright in his office for 6 months from one properly stored over that time. That got us a bit worried. When we arrived home I retrieved a bottle of 1997 Mauro Veglio Barolo we had been storing for several years in our New England basement which varies from 60-80 degrees. It tasted very good but we couldn't tell whether it might have tasted even better if stored more optimally. What do you think, is a wine fridge absolutely crucial for us? I was considering buying a 117-bottle Eurocave for $1,500. |
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Wine refrigerators revisited
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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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Wine refrigerators revisited
Oh, and one more thing. Just because wine stored diffferently taste different, it does not necessarily mean that one is BETTER than another. Wine stored in a fridge set to a lowish setting will probably taste different to those in your basement. They will evolve slower and develop different flavours. But whether they are better or worse is a judgement call. -- Steve Slatcher http://pobox.com/~steve.slatcher |
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Wine refrigerators revisited
This is cute, humidity issues notwithstanding:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2020009_turn...rigerator.html Here's a story from http://www.wikihow.com of converting a standard fridge to wine cooler: "I converted my standard fridge to a wine cooler. I'm still playing with the humidity levels. I keep open containers of water in the thing, but I'm not measuring humidity so I don't know. "My Hotpoint fridge has the freezer unit on top with the temp control knob in the fridge component, running 1-9 (warm-cold). I first made the mistake of measuring air temp; then an expert pointed out to me that you want water temp. So I put a pan the temp probe in an open container of water in the fridge. That measurement is much more stable anyway. But even at the warmest setting, the temp was in the forties. "I unscrewed the faceplate of the control panel and noticed a set screw for the thermostat. By trial an error I found that I could raise the warmest setting (1) by turning the screw clockwise. Eventually I got the warmest setting to stablize at 60F. Then I buttoned up the unit and dialed back the control knob from the "1" setting. At about "3" I stablized it at 55-57 degrees." Jonathon Alsop -- -- BOSTON WINE SCHOOL http://www.BostonWineSchool.com AIM: alsopj vox:+1.617.784.7150 fax:+1.888.833.9528 1354 Commonwealth Avenue Boston MA USA 02134 wrote: > I reviewed the posting history of this newsgroup on the subject of > wine refrigerators. I'd love to hear more opinions. I'm about to > make a big decision and could use good advice. > > My wife and I just returned from California's Napa and Sonoma counties > where we bought a few cases which will be arriving shortly. The tour > guide at Joseph Phelps said he could taste the difference between a > bottle of left upright in his office for 6 months from one properly > stored over that time. That got us a bit worried. > > When we arrived home I retrieved a bottle of 1997 Mauro Veglio Barolo > we had been storing for several years in our New England basement > which varies from 60-80 degrees. It tasted very good but we couldn't > tell whether it might have tasted even better if stored more > optimally. What do you think, is a wine fridge absolutely crucial for > us? I was considering buying a 117-bottle Eurocave for $1,500. |
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Wine refrigerators revisited
On Oct 29, 2:00*pm, Jonathon Alsop >
wrote: > This is cute, humidity issues notwithstanding: > > http://www.ehow.com/how_2020009_turn...rigerator.html > > Here's a story fromhttp://www.wikihow.comof converting a standard > fridge to wine cooler: > > "I converted my standard fridge to a wine cooler. I'm still playing with > the humidity levels. I keep open containers of water in the thing, but > I'm not measuring humidity so I don't know. > > "My Hotpoint fridge has the freezer unit on top with the temp control > knob in the fridge component, running 1-9 (warm-cold). I first made the > mistake of measuring air temp; then an expert pointed out to me that you > want water temp. So I put a pan the temp probe in an open container of > water in the fridge. That measurement is much more stable anyway. But > even at the warmest setting, the temp was in the forties. > > "I unscrewed the faceplate of the control panel and noticed a set screw > for the thermostat. By trial an error I found that I could raise the > warmest setting (1) by turning the screw clockwise. Eventually I got the > warmest setting to stablize at 60F. Then I buttoned up the unit and > dialed back the control knob from the "1" setting. At about "3" I > stablized it at 55-57 degrees." > > Jonathon Alsop > -- > -- > BOSTON WINE SCHOOLhttp://www.BostonWineSchool.com > *AIM: alsopj > vox:+1.617.784.7150 *fax:+1.888.833.9528 > 1354 Commonwealth Avenue Boston MA USA 02134 Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. While the idea of converting a regular refrigerator into a wine storage refrigerator is appealing I fear they weren't designed for the task. We would likely have to revisit the issue just a few years down the road. My wife and I are approaching 50 and we we want a wine fridge that will work for the next 30 years. There are many manufacturers who sell much more afforadable ones than Eurocave but I've fallen for the functional design and reviews by satisfied owners. The icing on the cake is they are sold out of Mt. Kisko NY, the next town over from my relatives. I can skip the delivery cost by picking it up myself. |
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