First you need to know that wine cellar cooling is a specialty, it falls in a niche between refrigeration and air conditioning.  Aside from the specialty of the cooling of the wine, you need to know that there are caustic properties of wine, even when still corked.  You need an expert with wine cellar cooling experience that can address the details of wine cellar cooling and the caustic properties of wine.

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Now that you called for help and help is on the way, you need to determine what you are going to do – if anything, to keep your wine safe.  Of course your course of action depends on the size and value of the wine collection, the time until the technician can arrive to evaluate your cellar’s cooling issue or the time to correct the issue and the emotional attachment you have to your wine collection.

There are a couple of things you can do to protect your wine.  We suggest one of the following temporary solutions if you are concerned about your wine.

Relocate your wine to a cooler location, take care not to place it near a radiator, heating vent or other location where the temperature is not constant.  It may seem like a cool location until the heat comes on.  Constant temperture is arguably more important than a cool location where the temperature varies during the day.  Extended periods of heat or heating and cooling of wine is a problem (expansion and contraction of the wine in the bottle).

If a constant temperature location is not available then it may be better to leave it in the cellar and add some dry ice to your wine cellar or if that isn’t possible you can add cooler(s) of regular ice to keep it cooler than the current temperature.

Many wine cellar issues can be corrected during the visit, even if just temporarily.  There are times when additional work needs to be completed and sometimes parts need to be ordered. During this time it may be worthwhile to find a solution to take care of the wine.

Being around wine collectors and dabbling over the years at wineries and tastings I found out that wine not as vulnerable as most people think.  So warmer tempertures for a short period of time will unlikely ruin a wine, but if you intend on storing wine in a non-conditioned location for more than a year while you wait for a new cellar to be built in your home – other arrangements need to be made to protect your wine.  A few weeks or even months while you wait for repairs will not ruin your wine.

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If you need help with temperature, contact Cold Craft, Inc.

408.374.7292 or [email protected]

By Published On: September 25, 2014

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