Home to mild weather and moderating ocean breezes, Santa Maria enjoys a fairly even climate all year round. But with temperatures on the rise across the globe, local wine collectors may want to take another look at the storage conditions that will best protect their precious galleries of liquid art.
Unlike spirits, such as bourbon and vodka, which contain high levels of alcohol that defend against spoilage, wine is a living, perishable thing. If improperly stored, even well-structured, age-worthy wines will lose quality, flavor, and the complex characteristics that make mature wines so wonderfully compelling.
Granted, fine wines warrant more stringently defined storage spaces than do vinos destined for marinara sauce, but both respond best to certain ideal conditions. If either will be held for just a week or two, however, a cool, dark room will probably suffice to keep them safe until the corks are pulled.
Optimal wine cellar temperatures hover around 55 degrees F. and display a minimum of variation. Stability is key here, so a room that remains a steady 65 degrees F. over time offers much better storage conditions than one where the thermometer drops to 55 at night and then jumps 20 or 30 degrees during the daytime.
As temperatures rise, wine expands, creating pressure inside the bottle that can force air out around the edges of the cork, which does not form an air-tight seal. When the mercury’s rise is rapid and high enough, the heat will even push out wine from around the cork, a seepage that, over time, leads to the low fill level sometimes seen in bottles of older vintages.
As temperatures plunge, the liquid cools and contracts, creating a vacuum in the bottle that sucks air back in through the cork. It’s this exchange of gases: aroma-infused air going out, odor-filled air coming in, that eventually alters the bouquet (usually not for the better), promotes the unpleasant “cooked” flavors of oxidation, and renders the wine bland and flabby.
Central Coast Wine Services (CCWS), headquartered in Santa Maria, has girded its facility against heat and temperature fluctuations by recently installing a state-of-the-art refrigeration system to protect the case goods stored in its warehouse. Owned by the Miller family, CCWS traditionally has relied upon thick insulation and evening breezes to maintain an ideal warehouse environment, but projected threats of prolonged heat spells prompted the family to act in the best interest of their winemaking customers.
“We took this step not out of need, but rather for extra insurance,” said family spokesman Nicholas Miller. “We house some of California’s best wines in our consolidated case goods warehouse, and this provides our customers with one further level of insurance.”
Private collectors who keep their wines at home are advised to designate a cellar area—whether it’s an insulated cupboard, spare closet, temperature-controlled cabinet, or specially constructed cellar—even before bringing their treasures home. Using a thermometer that records maximum and minimum temperatures, they should monitor the space over a continuous period of time, and only consider those areas that experience fluctuations of 5 degrees or less.
A fragile balance of amino acids, phenols, carbohydrates, and other chemical compounds, wine undergoes unfortunate changes when exposed to heat. At temperatures above 65 degrees F., solids in the wine (tannins and color pigments) begin to drop out at a greater rate than that at which the sugars and acids are reacting, which creates imbalance.
Though very low temperatures may simply slow the aging process, they tend to exist in concert with temperature fluctuations and low humidity levels, especially inside a refrigerator. The desired humidity level, about 50 percent, helps keep corks supple and their contact with each bottle’s neck uncompromised.
Choose a storage place untouched by sunlight, for those cheerful rays warm the wine and speed up chemical reactions inside the bottle. Light-reduced environments also minimize the introduction of surplus oxygen that can degrade the quality and taste of any wine.
Of course, a certain measure of luck plays a role in the successful aging of wine, whether a coveted vintage or a favorite weekday quaff.
Circumstances beyond the buyer’s control include cork contamination and bottle irregularities, as well as the overall quality of vintage and vinification.
Even the conditions under which the wine was stored before it was purchased can affect its potential for aging gracefully. All these unknowns may aggravate collectors, but they also add to the allure of wine by injecting an element of mystery, and making well-aged liquid gems just that much more special.
K. Reka Badger is graceful at any age. E-mail comments or ideas to rekabadger@hotmail.com.
This article appears in Feb 5-12, 2009.
