Re: Your Port collection ... what is the organization like?
Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2023 6:30 pm
Hmm.. I'll wager your local drug store does a big trade in moisturiser and lip balm!Today the humidity where I live is 18%.
Forum for Port, Madeira & Portuguese Wines
https://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/
https://www.fortheloveofport.com/ftlopforum/viewtopic.php?t=4451
Hmm.. I'll wager your local drug store does a big trade in moisturiser and lip balm!Today the humidity where I live is 18%.
My EuroCave has been rock solid for I guess it's about 14 years now. If I ever need to replace it, I will probably buy another one because it has been so reliable.Scott Esterly wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 5:58 am Is EuroCave what you’d recommend for someone that needs to store VPs for 10-20 years? They’re expensive but seem to be the only true reliable option for very long term storage.
I’ve maxed out my 51 bottle no-brand fridge and need to figure out a second fridge. Half of my VPs are really young and I won’t be opening then for a long time.
That is the question. In my experience, the biggest cause of damage to fine wines, of all types, is not sub optimal temperature control, but exposure to light. Any sign of sun bleaching on an auction lot bottle label is a big no-no in my book. On the other hand, badly sun struck VP bottles remain quite drinkable, but they are very different players, venturing into the tawny spectrum as far as drinking experience goes.Re: do you really even need temp controlled storage?
Discussions with members of the Port trade lead me to believe that it's not heat, precisely, but rather heat combined with large (and rapid) swings in temperature. The prevailing theory, at least amongst the Portuguese, seems to be that holding bottles steady in the 65-70 range for years is nothing like having bottles swing with the daily weather where it may reach 100+ during the day but then back down into the 60s at night.Tom Archer wrote: ↑Mon Mar 06, 2023 5:44 pmThat is the question. In my experience, the biggest cause of damage to fine wines, of all types, is not sub optimal temperature control, but exposure to light. Any sign of sun bleaching on an auction lot bottle label is a big no-no in my book. On the other hand, badly sun struck VP bottles remain quite drinkable, but they are very different players, venturing into the tawny spectrum as far as drinking experience goes.Re: do you really even need temp controlled storage?
Port is a pretty robust player when it comes to temperature, but it does have its limits. The occasional foray into the 70s F during a heatwave is probably nothing to get too alarmed about, but 73F for the duration of the summer? I'd regard that as being potentially risky, but on the other hand there's nothing like a little experimentation.
If Glenn wants to bring a mainstream 80s bottle that's had a few such summers under it's belt, the next time he crosses the pond, I'll pull a matching one to compare it with.
Without naming names, some of the lodge bottle stores used to get indecently warm, and not just the old ones. When a new one was opened about a decade ago I was proudly shown the bottles' new home, but immediately realised it was far, far, too warm in there, with extremely rare old bottles leaking pathetically. As an architectural design it was expensive and impressive, but as functional storage place for bottles, an outright disaster.As I'm sure many here can attest, the temp in the Gaia cellars gets surprisingly warm. I've never actually checked it (lacking a convenient, accurate, portable thermometer) but it would not surprise me at all if the warmer parts of some of those cellars reach 72-73 degrees during the summer. They feel cool-ish because it's so hot outside, but I would be quite surprised to learn that they're actually in even the low 60s, let alone the upper 50s. Feels like upper 60s to low 70s to me.
I will not take that bet. 30% yesterday. Wind shifted overnight and is from the NE today, so 93% today. Back to 32% Thursday.Tom Archer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 6:30 pmHmm.. I'll wager your local drug store does a big trade in moisturiser and lip balm!Today the humidity where I live is 18%.
You do realise that when you put two wine racks in a room, they breed..Port on the right wall, other wines on the left wall.
My steel horizontal bars are wrapped in a plastic tubing to keep them from scraping the back labels.Tom Archer wrote: ↑Tue Mar 07, 2023 10:00 pm The steel horizontal bars on those racks are really bad at scraping back labels, but if you wrap about 2" of silver duct tape over each one, the problem is solved, and you hardly notice the tape is there.
Boiler rooms do not make great cellars..I'm a little leery about long term storage in my basement...I've been tracking the temp and humidity for three weeks now and there's a pretty big temperature fluctuation throughout the day (it's been as much as 9 degrees - 61 degrees low and 70 degrees high). There's always at least a 6 degree variation during the day. The problem is that, while it's a big basement, I finished a little more than half of it. The unfinished portion, where'd I'd store the port, is now a smaller space and near to the HVAC systems which cause the temp to rise when running.