Wine Storage Temperature

Wine storage is a critical issue, as the wine stored matures and ages with time, the aroma, color, and taste becoming more and more refined with every passing year. Wine storage, aging and maturity is an art in itself and is complicated as wine making itself. Wine storage temperature is a contributing factor to the aging and maturity process.

What is Aging and Maturity of Wine?

Many comment that wine storage is an art that enhances the aging and maturity process. You must have certainly heard of very old wine that is centuries old being very, very tasty and well, 'heavenly' in the mouth. After the wine is made and bottled, sugars, acids and phenolic compounds, tannins are found in the liquid in many complex combination. As time progresses, the wine starts evolving into a very, very refined one. The problem with wine aging is the very delicate combination of reactions and substances within wine that tend to be very, very unpredictable. These combination and reactions are significantly affected by 3 factors, namely, light, humidity and temperature. As per the Coates Law of Maturity, which is used to used to asses the quality of wine, duration of aging and maturity, and the peak drinking or tasting period are almost congruent and more stable the 3 factors, more delightful is the wine.

The problem with wine storage is that it needs constant environment to age and mature, and even a slight change in light, humidity and temperature tend to affect the wine quality substantially. Enologists, thus never predict but tend to predict the end result of the wine storage, on the basis of several factors such as grape or fruit content and brewing and fermentation process. These predictions are not always assured, and the end result can be quite different from what has been predicted. The chemical reactions are highly versatile and almost infinite in number and rate is unimaginable. For this very reason the wine bottles were buried or stored in deep caves or wine cellars in France, where the probability of them being disturbed was almost zero. The end result was fantastically aged, matured wine with fantastic aroma, color, taste, density, etc.

Wine Storage Temperature

The temperature at which the wine can be stored is varied as per the origin and type of the wine. Though wine cannot be stored in absolutely balanced environment, a proper wine storage temperature ensures that it ages and matures properly. As mentioned above, there are several organic compounds and organic esters that are found in wine. The reaction between them is to delicately balanced and has to be controlled. These organic esters reactions, which also involve several other compounds, take place in a very well-balanced manner at 56 to 58ºF (about 14ºC). These reactions tend to get off balance as the temperature rises or falls. There are several other temperature ranges that are considered to be ideal, for example, the ranges 50 - 55ºF (10 -16ºC) is advocated to be a realistically achievable range. Some even might go up to 18ºC for faster aging and maturity.

A certain fine tuning is also required for temperature for wine storage, that is the temperature has to vary as per the wine temperature. Here are a few pointers:

• Red wine storage temperature, (full bodied wine which is rich and dark) ranges from 59 - 68ºF (15 - 20ºC).
• The lighter and less denser one is on the other hand is stored and served at 54 - 57ºF (12-13ºC)
• For dry wines, Rose and Blush, 46 - 57ºF (7 - 13ºC), is considered to be ideal range.
• Champagne and sparkling wines are stored at 43 - 47ºF (6 - 8ºC).
• White wine storage temperature ranges from 53 - 57ºF (11-13ºC).

In the aforementioned temperatures, it must be noted that the temperatures are rounded off for the sake of convenience. You will have to check with the manufacturer of your wine for the ideal temperature and also for the ideal position in which it is to be stored. The information sticker or the carton often contains such information. Wine refrigerators have the precise temperature settings that are great for preserving, storing, maturing and aging wine. I hope that the elaboration on wine storage temperature is resourceful. Good luck.