Can you get away with storing wine in a garage in winter?

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Can you get away with storing wine in a garage in winter?

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jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
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Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 8:59 am Post subject: Can you get away with storing wine in a garage in winter?
title says it all really. My understairs cellar will soon overflow But I'm worried about the wine freezing in the garage A long time ago, I do recall getting away with it, with the wine in an old wooden cupboard in the garage. But as the wine I want to store now, is the really good stuff for long term maturing. I do not want to be worried about it. jema

Fullup

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 183
Location: Under water

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 9:30 am Post subject:
How about packing the cupboard with straw to provide some insulation around the bottles, another option could be to put the bottles in some of those large polystyrene box's that meat deliveries often come in. Or an even better idea, how about sending some to me to look after for you....hic Phill

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
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Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 9:38 am Post subject:

Fullup wrote:

How about packing the cupboard with straw to provide some insulation around the bottles, another option could be to put the bottles in some of those large polystyrene box's that meat deliveries often come in.

Or an even better idea, how about sending some to me to look after for you....hic

Phill

the particular cupboard is old old history, I would be looking for some insulated packaging, but insulation only slows tempurature change.

jema

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 9:43 am Post subject:

You may well find that a spell in the cold will improve the wine. It'll produce an extra sediment, and the wine will be better for losing it. But such cold treatment should be -short-, you can do a lot of harm to your wine if you keep it that cold for long.

Wine won't normally freeze till you get to around -10C, which isn't a temperature you expect your garage to spend long at. So I'd have thought that while the wine will survive out there, it'll not be happy.

Ideal temp for storing reds is surprisingly high; something around 10C. But you'll get away with storing it at anywhere between 5C and 18C, as long as you keep the temperature stable. The kind of seasonal temperature fluctuations you get aren't a big deal, but you -desperately- want to avoid daily temperature fluctuations, as they'll make the wine mature too fast and can ultimately spoil it. I've seen wines exposed to that kind of treatment start to seep out around the edge of the cork, as the cork can't stand that treatment at all.

The other thing to look out for is the smell of your garage. If you've got a car coming in and out of there, don't store wine there. It'll pick up the smell of the exhaust fumes. The vibration will disturb the sediment and mature it too fast.

Hope some of this helps...

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
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Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 12:29 pm Post subject:
Very useful advice as ever No chance of a car in our garage which is one useful thing. Your advice does make me think that I should reserve the prime understairs space for the good stuff. Though I'd guess this probably does get above 18c at times. Where do you store yours? jema

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 12:44 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

Where do you store yours?

Under the stairs. No heating there, so it -does- get above that temperature in summer, which is a shame, but the daily fluctuations aren't -that- bad there.

If you haven't got a cellar, there's not a lot you can do.

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 12:48 pm Post subject:
I have considered all sorts, from the bizzare to the ridicules . Like the sheltered manhole cover that goes 12 foot down into the depths jema

scarecrow

Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Manchester, Up North

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 12:56 pm Post subject:
A mate of mine keeps his long term wine under his floorbaords!

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 12:59 pm Post subject:

scarecrow wrote:

A mate of mine keeps his long term wine under his floorbaords!

Nice idea,... if you have floorboards!

jema

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
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Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 1:01 pm Post subject:
Ours is kept against the north wall in our spare bedroom. There's no heating on as the other half of it is used to overwinter our citrus plants.

scarecrow

Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Manchester, Up North

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 1:03 pm Post subject:
[quote="jemaNice idea,... if you have floorboards! jema[/quote] Not even upstairs?

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28239
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 1:05 pm Post subject:

scarecrow wrote:

[quote="jemaNice idea,... if you have floorboards!

jema

Not even upstairs?[/quote]

That strikes me as not a very effective place?

jema

scarecrow

Joined: 15 Dec 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Manchester, Up North

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 1:07 pm Post subject:
Agreed... I just thought it odd not to have floorboards.

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 04 1:09 pm Post subject:
This is probably not very downsizery..but if you happened to be storing things in one of those self-storage places, would that be an appropriate place to put some? I should imagine the temp would be fairly stable but not too high there? I've never been near the places, it's just a kind of an idea.

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