With temperatures here reaching 102° F (39 C) over the past few days, it
was reasonable to wonder how our passively cooled, below grade cellar
would fare in such extreme conditions. Most gratifyingly, the excursion
thermometer in the cellar recorded a high temperature of 61°F (16 C),
well within my tolerances for cellar temperature. On a subjective
basis, the trip down the stairs to the cellar involves a noticeable
temperature drop with each step, as a 20° F gradient from living space
to cellar is traversed in 12 steps -- quite the shock to the system!

Your faithful correspondent from the oven,
Mark Lipton

obwine: NV Cedric Bouchard Blanc de Noirs Inflorescence was quite fine,
if a bit rounded for my tastes.

On Saturday, July 7, 2012 1:27:54 AM UTC-4, Mark Lipton wrote:
> With temperatures here reaching 102° F (39 C) over the past few days, it
> was reasonable to wonder how our passively cooled, below grade cellar
> would fare in such extreme conditions. Most gratifyingly, the excursion
> thermometer in the cellar recorded a high temperature of 61°F (16 C),
> well within my tolerances for cellar temperature. On a subjective
> basis, the trip down the stairs to the cellar involves a noticeable
> temperature drop with each step, as a 20° F gradient from living space
> to cellar is traversed in 12 steps -- quite the shock to the system!
>
> Your faithful correspondent from the oven,
> Mark Lipton
>
> obwine: NV Cedric Bouchard Blanc de Noirs Inflorescence was quite fine,
> if a bit rounded for my tastes.

Thermometer at eye level reads 68 in cellar after week+ of hot weather. I'm ok with that, except it's mid-July rather than late August. Don't think it's this heat wave as much as the mild winter means the first few feet of soil surrounding cellar never got as cold as usual. I'll have to start running my auxilary AC unit in cellar earlier than ever before.
But I did move 15 cases of my most precious stuff to offsite storage this year, will probably add another 10 or so