Keep that fancy wine out of the fridge, say experts

December 20, 2023 by
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Because most of us don’t have the space or money to install a dedicated wine cellar, we resort to storing at least some of the wine we buy in a refrigerator. If the fridge is one meant to store wine that’s okay, but if you just popping the bottles into your regular refrigerator, you could be harming the wine, says Food and Wine’s Oset Babür-Winter.

While putting a bottle into the fridge for a short amount of time to allow it to come to proper serving temperature might be okay, long-term storage at cold temperatures is a no-no according to wine experts. Most refrigerators are too cold, which can shock the wine. When that happens, “tartaric acid falls out of the body of the wine in the form of ‘wine diamonds,’ and the wine loses some of its complexity, balance, and flavor. Thus, very quickly, the wine becomes unbalanced and stays unbalanced, compounding its unbalanced flavors for the duration of its ‘aging’ in the fridge,” says sommelier Leonara Varvoutis.

In addition, vibrations from the refrigerator’s compressor can agitate the wine, upsetting the sediments that play a role in the proper aging of wine. If you do not have a dedicated wine fridge that is set up with the right humidity, temperature, and light levels, you are better off storing your fine wine in a closet or other dark space to keep UV from deteriorating it.

Category: Antipasto

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3 Comments

  • debkellie  on  December 20, 2023

    A shame his article didn’t specify best temps for the different types of wine …. and loved all the ads that come up in the article’s web page for wine fridges! As we swelter here in Brissy (it’s been 33C+ every day for the last 2 weeks I can’t help but laugh at the idea of a cool dark room….. Enjoy your festive season folks!

  • SilverSage  on  December 21, 2023

    @debkellie Most of us drink our whites too cold and our reds too warm.

    Generally speaking, most reds should be 60-65F, and most whites 50-55F, roses even cooler at 40-45F. Sparkling should be refrigerator cold – 40F or lower.

    It’s OK to store them lower than drinking temp, just set them out for a bit before drinking. My high end reds, I store at 50-55F, or white wine temp. When you open them to breathe before drinking, they will come up to proper temp.

    What he didn’t say is that humidity is also important – ideal is 50-70% relative humidity.

    (I have certificates and pins that say I’m supposed to know this stuff).

  • Rinshin  on  December 22, 2023

    SilverSage – That is good to know. Thank you. I think I am guilty of drinking white right out of refrigerator and too cold. I should check the internal temperature.

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