Why don’t wine shops store bottles at cellar temperature?
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Dear Dr. Vinny,
How do wine shops get away with not storing bottles at 55° F? The interiors of most retailers are more like 75°, standard room temperature. Isn’t that too hot?
—Char, Elk Grove, Calif.
Dear Char,
You’re correct that the ideal long-term temperature for storing wine is about 55° F. It’s ideal to keep your bottles at a constant temperature, away from light and vibration, with relatively high humidity to prevent the corks from drying out.
While you can take care of wine once it’s in your possession, you can’t know how it has been stored before you buy it. (Or in your case, you do know how it’s been stored, and you don’t approve!)
To mitigate these concerns, you can purchase wines directly from a producer when possible—just be careful about shipping wine during hot months. If you buy at retail, be selective about where you are purchasing wines. I’ve been in some wine shops that are on the chilly side, without wines on display in a sunny window, that do a brisk business. I’ve also been in convenience stores with wines under bright lights and in sunny windows with dusty shelves, which indicates they’re not moving bottles quickly. I’d much prefer to shop at the former.
If you’re concerned about how long a particular bottle has been sitting on the shelf, just ask—the shop staff should be able to tell you. Generally speaking, it won’t hurt a bottle to sit for a few weeks or even months at room temperature. The only real concern is if the wines have gotten too hot and cooked. It’d be impractical and expensive for a wine shop to keep its entire inventory in ideal storage conditions. Luckily, it’s also unnecessary, assuming the bottles aren’t sitting on the shelf for too long.
That said, many wine shops will keep expensive, collectible and aged or otherwise fragile bottles in a temperature-controlled cellar. That’s always a good sign when you’re considering a splurge.
In general, make sure you keep your receipts when you buy wine. Hopefully the wine shop has a policy for refunding flawed or damaged wines, should it come to that. As soon as you get home, make sure to care for your wines as best you can, whether that’s in a dedicated cellar, a wine cooler, a dark and cool corner of a closest or basement, or whatever is the best you can do.
—Dr. Vinny
