Improving humidity

[Alex M]

Dear all,

My bottles aren't stored in the most ideal conditions, but in the best I can muster; A cupboard in an empty room with temperature fluctuations of +-2 degrees c yearly. Whilst these conditions are acceptable for the time being, i've got no idea how to improve humidity. Should I find some OWC and put bottles in there with a mug of water? Secondly, I tend to buy the odd bottle from Tesco's and Fenwicks etc, should they be removed from those flimsy wooden cases immediately or do they serve some purpose?

Thanks

[uncle tom]

Alex,

Centrally heated UK houses are usually low in humidity.

Humidity levels are perhaps taken a little too seriously in the wine press - the top end limits owe more to a desire to preserve labels, than a desire to preserve the contents of the bottle, so an over-high humidity level may result in some degradation of the label over an extended period, without consequence for the bottle contents. However, from my own experiance, a bottle in a conventional rack with free air circulation, that is in a room with a very high humidity (such as my cellar) - does not suffer rapid label degradation.

At the low end there is the potential for accelerated fluid loss from the bottle, due to evaporation; which is not desirable.

Perhaps the most practical way to correct this is to have some bowls or jars of water in the vicinity, with a cotton rag or tea towel part submerged; acting as a wick that will accelerate the evaporation of the water, and raise humidity.

Tom

[Alex Bridgeman]

Alex,

I can't really add anything to Tom's comments, but I wouldn't worry too much about the humidity levels of of the room where you store the wine. The key reason for storage with relatively high humidity is to reduce the likelihood of evaporation from the bottle or shrinkage of the cork. However, if you are storing bottles bought from Tesco and Fenwick with relatively young and robust corks, this should not be a problem.

Alex

[Portman]

I agree with the others. Small deviations in temperature and greater deviations in humidity should have little effect on your wine over time, particularly robust wines like Port. Probably the most important factor is what that baseline temperature of your cupboard is. If it is warmer, your wine will age faster. I would avoid anything above 70 F for long term aging or if you have a valuable collection.

But I think in general people make much more fuss about temperature and humidity than is necessary. Some of the lodges in Vila Nova are bloody hot in August, and they have millions of gallons of port aging in barrels there. I kept wines for years in my basement and they did just fine. It wasnt until I started buying really ageworthy stuff that I sprang for a cooling unit to give me peace of mind.

[uncle tom]

Some of the lodges in Vila Nova are bloody hot in August,

I would like to know what the temperature is in the VNG bottle stores that are deep enough to keep it reasonably stable.

I looked at the climate records for Oporto a while back, and concluded that the year round average was probably around 18C, which is warm by most cellaring standards. Last time I was in VNG I was on the look out for thermometers, but the only ones I found were either encrusted with grime or broken - I must get hold of an accurate device and take it with me next time..

..no time like the present - one infra red pocket thermometer ordered, accurate to +/-1.5%

Now wait for me to forget to pack it on my next trip..

Tom

[RonnieRoots]

I would like to know what the temperature is in the VNG bottle stores that are deep enough to keep a reasonably stable.

If you knew it would only make you very sad. I don't think they put a lot of effort in temperature control. Nor do they care about it.

[mosesbotbol]

My cellar is relatively dry all year long. We use a de-humidifier in the summer as there's more than in our cellar. I have had dry wines with 10 years of cellaring and did not see or taste any issues with them. I might worry if it was bone dry, but during the winter, my cellar is pretty friggin dry, so I don't know what to say about needing high humidity. I have no personal experience to say that humidity is critical to long term storage...

Perhaps when corks weren't as good as they are now it was different?

[Portman]

At one end of the cork you have wine, keeping the cork moist. At the other the air, with its varying degree of humidity. Even if we all lived in the Arizona desert, and the air was devoid of water, in order to wick wine out of the bottle the air has to get through 2 inches of cork. Is it a factor in long term storage? Sure. But is it a major one for most of us? I dont think it is. Most of us live in environments in Northern Europe, the east coast of the United States, and the Pacific Northwest with pretty high levels of ambient humidity. (Who is it that lives in Oman, Ronnie Roots? You are sui generis, my friend.)

Here in the States (and maybe in parts of Europe too) there is a certain anal retentive group of oenophile that not only stores their wine in the "perfect" conditions of 55F/75% humidity, but get quite preachy about ANY deviation from this epitome of perfection. These are the same kinds of people who think that a bottle of wine that is rated 100 points is better than one that is rated 98 points. If we do a blind tasting of a 100 point Lafite stored at 55 degrees, with a 98 point Lafite stored at 60 degrees, we all know that some of us will prefer the 100 point wine and others will prefer the 98 point one. Appreciating wine is a subjective hobby that lends itself to rules of thumb, not rigid canons.

We all know that we shouldn't bring our wine out into the summer sun to give it a tan. Which reminds me of a story of a friend of mine in Madrid, an elderly gentleman, who proudly showed me his ancient bottle of Vega Sicilia Unico, which he kept with his other wines stored neatly in an open balcony. If you have ever been to Madrid in August you know it is as hot as a blast furnace. I wouldnt leave my wine out there for one day, let alone 20 years. I didnt have the heart to tell him it was all surely vinegar.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Portman - a great post and you are bang on with what you say.

Reminds me of the way in which Conky (I think it was) first came to The Port Forum. He had a bottle of Martinez 1985 which had been stored in his kitchen cupboard for many years. Worried that it may have been spoiled through imperfect storage (my kitchen, at least, goes up and down in temperature on a daily and seasonal basis) he brought the bottle to an offline. I am told that it was delicious.

Good stuff, is port. Very difficult to really kill off.

[Alex M]

Thanks for the replies. All the advice is much appreciated. I think my collection must drastically improve before humidity and serious storage becomes a major issue. Further to that, does anybody know when the Stracker Chadwick auction catalogue comes online for the June 27th sale.

Also, are the flimsy OWC's for single bottles useful or detrimental towards storage conditions?

[uncle tom]

does anybody know when the Stracker Chadwick auction catalogue comes online for the June 27th sale

When it's ready..

..they have been known to get a catalogue out a fortnight or more before, but it's often less than that..

Tom

[g-man]

We all know that we shouldn't bring our wine out into the summer sun to give it a tan. Which reminds me of a story of a friend of mine in Madrid, an elderly gentleman, who proudly showed me his ancient bottle of Vega Sicilia Unico, which he kept with his other wines stored neatly in an open balcony. If you have ever been to Madrid in August you know it is as hot as a blast furnace. I wouldnt leave my wine out there for one day, let alone 20 years. I didnt have the heart to tell him it was all surely vinegar.

a Vega Sicilia too =(

[RonnieRoots]

(Who is it that lives in Oman, Ronnie Roots? You are sui generis, my friend.)

Here in the States (and maybe in parts of Europe too) there is a certain anal retentive group of oenophile that not only stores their wine in the "perfect" conditions of 55F/75% humidity, but get quite preachy about ANY deviation from this epitome of perfection.

Last week we had 55C / 75% humidity.
It's a bit cooler now, around 40C, but the humidity is always very high in the summer months. It's what makes going outside unbearable.

[mosesbotbol]

Also, are the flimsy OWC's for single bottles useful or detrimental towards storage conditions?

Should have no bearing either way on storage. They are not air tight. I like to keep port in their original OWC's or packaging if available. Certainly, this is not ideal to spot leakers, but I'll take my chances for now. Many cases I have never even pulled the staples out on. If the cover was already off, I'll take a look around. If it's a newer vintage, I may turn the bottles so the labels are all aligned