Wine storage that works - includes related article on storage options

Sunset, Nov, 1996 by Linda Lau Anusasananan

Tips from wine pros who'd rather spend more on wines than cellars

Years ago, when chef Jeremiah Tower was a rising star, I lunched with him in his (then) small, old house. Naturally, the meal was great, but what I remember most was the wine - actually where he had it stored. Without ceremony, and to my surprise, he lifted a large square out of the hardwood floor in the corner of the dining room. Reaching into the crawl space, he pulled out a bottle of wine.

The hole in the floor gave him ready access to the essentials of proper wine storage - a still, dark, cool place where the temperature doesn't change much. Most experts have settled on 50 [degrees] to 60 [degrees] as the optimum storage temperature range (55 [degrees] is ideal), with 50 to 70 percent humidity. And all agree that a fairly constant temperature and little or no light are very important. Changing temperatures and humidity make the wine cork shrink and expand, increasing the likelihood that damaging air can get into the bottle. Bright light and too much heat or too much cold can also physically compromise the wine.

KEEP IT COOL

Shipping containers. Save lightweight, bulky polystyrene boxes - the kind in which wine is shipped - with customized contours that fit each bottle. Bill M. Wiebalk, general manager of Harvest Wines in Sonoma, California, finds that the foam insulates the wine from dramatic temperature changes outside the container. You can buy the containers from many wineries, wine retailers, and mail packagers. Units come in many configurations; one that holds a case costs about $6. If you have friends who have much wine shipped to them, chances are they'd love to give you a mountain of the boxes.

Structural hideaways. Look for a place that is naturally cool. Ideal spots are closets that are not against an exterior wall, or ones that are against only a north or shaded wall. For short-term storage, you could even shove wine under a bed.

Storage space that is close to the earth works well. It can be between the house and the ground, like Tower's crawl space. If the house is cut back into a hill, store wine close to a subterranean wall; if it's an exposed-stud wall, you can nail storage units or racks against the wall between the studs. If you have a cool basement, stack wine under the basement stairs.

Insulation: There are many wall insulation materials that you can install easily to provide excellent temperature control.

Wine writer Ronn Wiegand of Napa lined his basement walls with R-30 insulation; it keeps the temperature close to 55 [degrees].

Sandra MacIver, president of Matanzas Creek Winery, has one home in Santa Rosa, California, where summers get very hot, and another in cool coastal Mendocino. In Santa Rosa, she stores wine in a heavily insulated room that is cooled, when necessary, by a small air conditioner. In Mendocino, her wine rests in a small, well-insulated room that is dug about 3 feet into the earth. Cool air enters the room through vents under the house; as the air warms, it flows up and out through vents in the opposite wall just below the ceiling.

Larry Brooks, general manager at Acacia Winery in Carneros, California, purchased insulation and an air conditioner from a building supply store and put them in an old shed at home that now holds thousands of bottles.

Although MacIver and Brooks use standard air conditioners, manufacturers claim new models cannot maintain temperatures in the 50s. And some vintners worry that too-dry air will suck wine out of the bottles, though a few open pans of water can provide humidity. If you have similar concerns, consider more specialized equipment.

Michael Merriman, director of beverage operations of the California Cafe Restaurant Group, used part of a bedroom in his 1920s Stags Leap-district home in the Napa Valley. He ordered a Reflectix insulation kit from a wine accessory catalog. The kit included foil-polybubble insulation, foil tape, furring strips, and a temperature control unit, which is basically an air conditioner that also controls humidity. Prices start at $850 for enough material to cover 200 square feet.

Kits with prefab insulated wood panels provide a finished look. One kit to convert a 3- by 4- by 8-foot closet costs about $1,000.

Refrigeration. You can adjust the temperature in a standard refrigerator (such as the extra one in the garage) to suit wine. Or you can purchase a refrigerated wine-storage unit with racks and temperature and humidity controls; these units start at about $1,000. Sid Goldstein, marketing vice president of Fetzer Vineyards, bought one: "I live in the hottest town in the [San Francisco] Bay Area. It's at least 95 [degrees] in my garage in summer. For me, a refrigerated unit is imperative."

WINE STORAGE SOURCES

International Wine Accessories, 11020 Audelia Rd., Suite B-113, Dallas, TX 75243; (800) 231-9463.

Wine Appreciation Guild, 155 Connecticut St., San Francisco, CA 94107; (800) 231-9463.

Wine Enthusiast, Box 39, Pleasantville, NY 10570; (800) 356-8466.

RELATED ARTICLE: ANGLES of REPOSE: STORAGE OPTIONS