Took delivery of another selection of reds yesterday.

The wine rack is in the bike room (well, it’s actually the dining room but there is no room to eat in there anymore….) but if I store the wine in there it’s too cold and I end up sticking the bottle on the radiator prior to serving just to warm it up a bit. Sacrilege! Is that the red wine equivalent of putting ice cubes in white wine?

What temperature should red wine be stored at?

Body temperature. Ideally, inside the stomach.

😆

Sounds good to me.

Wine ideally should be store at between 11 and 14 degrees, but its fluctuation which kills it. You can store wine for shorter periods at say 16-18 degrees, but they shouldnt go from 10 to 20 degrees and back again like next to a radiator.

BTW here’s mine in the bike shed

A double depth rack, takes 540 bottles, and is closed off with polyeurethane insulation panels held in place with batons.

Then I installed a solar powered water circuit to keep it cooler in summer, but I dont think its working well eneough so plan on putting a 12v inline water chiller in the cirucuit too

Has been refilled this year…

By the way, as to the concept of “room temperature”, I spent some time last year with a wine producer who was adamant that the original use of “Chambrage” as in ” température de chambrage” was in the context of a 16th or 17th century bedroom, which would have been a lot cooler than we know today – more like 14 degrees. And so his insistence that his reds are better at that kind of temperature.

In our house, wine doesn’t last long enough to worry about the best way to store it…

Anybody else seriously considering moving into Stoner’s shed?

Stoner, seriously, trust you to wade in with your super duper wine collection and storage arrangement 😆

Impressive stuff though. I’m surprised at the low temperature you recommend. Why is my restaurant wine always at room temperature? That’s how I like it. Surely 11-14 degrees is cold, isn’t it? Or would I be surprised at actually how warm that is?

How about one of these

Gallery

We keep our modest collection pretty cold. Personally I’m not sure it matters ‘that’ much to the average punter on the exact temp that you store at except that you should avoid major fluctuations as stoner says.

Just found out recently that there’s a WW2 underground bunker just up the road in someone’s back garden. They’ve packed it out with insulation and all the old folk hereabouts store their vino in it. I’m planning a raid as we speak.

store at 11-14 but serve at 14-16.

need to plan ahead though when decanting.

I will often decant my reds and chenin blancs in the morning before a dinner party

BTW here’s mine in the bike shed

YE GODS!

Hi Stoner, on behalf of all of the forum when is the wine tasting (read getting ver ver drunk)? 🙂

I tend to store mine at the local shop and pick it up as and when it’s required.