For The Love Of Port

Hello Everyone!

Can anyone comment or have any experience on how a warmer cellar (20-25C/68-77F) affects the maturing of Vintage ports? I live in an apartment in the city and have no traditional cellar, but have a maintenance room (that is dark) where I keep my ports, but the temperature in there is basically similar to room temperature. The temperature, although higher than should be, is rather stable at around 20-22C/68-72F during the winter/cold season and 23-25C/73-77F during the summer/warmer season. I have heard/read that VPs are pretty stable and warmer environment would mean quicker maturing, but if there is possibility of spoiling in any way, I must consider finding space for a wine fridge.

High 70's is pushing it for even port. The winter temp's don't get that low either. If you're storing a for a couple of years, not such a big deal. For real "cellaring" I would consider a wine fridge for your storage needs.

Moses Botbol wrote:High 70's is pushing it for even port. The winter temp's don't get that low either. If you're storing a for a couple of years, not such a big deal. For real "cellaring" I would consider a wine fridge for your storage needs.

Agree. Probably best to look into a wine fridge or offsite storage.

Agree with the above, subject to the below.

What I've been told by producers is that the actual temperature is not as important as the regular temperature swing. Storing Port at - for example - 70 degrees F is fine as long as it stays within a degree or two of that temp all day every day. If you have visited enough lodges, you've probably noticed that they can get quite warm (for a cellar) during the summer and that doesn't seem to hurt the Port. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if at least parts of those lodges reach 68-70 degrees every year over the summer.

I have my house air conditioning set up at 73 degrees F, but that's measured upstairs in the master bedroom. Because we have a large, 2-story entryway, the downstairs is consistently 3 degrees cooler than the measuring point upstairs. (And it actually takes some effort to keep the difference that low, but that's a different story.) So during the summer my non-refrigerated Port stays in the 68-70 range all day every day. During the winter we reconfigure the thermostat and that drops a bit to the 65-68 range.

I've only been doing this for about 8 years, but I have yet to notice any problems with Port (either VP or Tawny) stored at room temp that never exceeds 70 degrees F.

I do keep more "precious" bottles in my 3 refrigerators, though, just to be safe. The stuff that's unrefrigerated is all 30-40 years old and ready to drink, so it's what I'm typically opening.

So based on my experience you're probably fine during your winter/cold season, but hitting 25C/77F during the summer/warm season seems risky to me.

Thank you all for feedback! I will start looking for a wine fridge (and room for it) to keep my VPs more stable and cool, would not want to let anything spoil because of holding environment.