Wine Information

What is the best storage temperature for a variety of red wines? Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Zinfandels, Syrahs, Merlots

Opened red wine storage question.? I am considering http://peksystems.com/store.aspx?prod_id=134&cat_id=1 as a gift for my father's birthday. He is a big fan of red wines (as am I). Now I know the standard answer to "How should you store your reds after opening?" is in the fridge, and not for long, but we often end up storing our reds for up to a month after opening (usually it will only be 1/8 to 1/4 of a bottle). Some night when we've already had a bottle or two, we'll pull out all the nearly done ones, and finish them off. Unfortunately, this decision often comes towards the end of the evening, so there is never enough time for the wine to get to room temperature. So here's the question(s): A) Since the argon displaces all the air, can these bottles be stored at room temperature? B) Since we're storing them for so long anyways, would it make any difference to not refrigerate them? C) Will the argon help? Brian - As for the $70 I have to get my Dad something anyways, and figured he might want something other than socks this year. ;) And yeah, most of the reds are pretty good. You got pretty close to the answer I'm looking for, but let me refine my question a bit: Which is the lesser of two evils: drinking the wine cold or leaving it for a month, argon filled, and in a cool dark place? Argon refills are reasonably priced. $11 for 4, each lasting 7 bottles on average. This comes out to less than $0.40 per bottle. Pontac - I agree that using the stoppers for glass by glass use would probably not be successful for the reasons you have mentioned. But since this isn't the intended use, I think it should work just fine.

How long can unopened wine be stored at room temperature? I had some leftover table-red wine from a recent party (about a case and a half). It accidently got stored at room temperature for a week instead of in the basement. The bottles were screw tops and the wine was unopened. Some of the bottles had been previously chilled during the party. When I opened one of the bottles today the wine seemed slightly brown and tasted off. I didn't think it could have gone bad so quickly. Is this a storage issue or could the wine have already been bad? THANKS!!

Do the compressor cycles in a wine fridge harm the wine? I have a compressor based wine fridge by Avanti to store my red wine. The wine fridge has a digital read-out that lets you pick a storage temperature and also see the current temperature inside of the fridge. I have set my preference to 60 degrees F. here are my 2 questions/concerns: -- the compressor adds vibrations to the unit which have been said to harm wine, though there is no conclusive evidence to this (other than simply disturbing sediment and perhaps clouding the wine if the sediment is broken down enough). For storage less than 2 years, is this a legitimate concern? -- the ON & OFF of the compressor cycles introduces temperature variations. At my 60 deg F setting, the compressor begins when the temperature is greater than or equal to 63 deg F and stops when the temperature is 57 deg F. I know this temp fluctuation doesn't mean the actual liquid wine is fluctuation as so, but I am also wondering for any input regarding that effect for storage less than 2 years. Thanks

can I store both red wine and white wines in the same portable wine cellar? Hey guys, I am thinking about buying a portable wine cellar to store the wines my friends gave me. I know red and white wines needs to be in different tempature for storage but i am not sure if I can place them into the same wine cellar? I see there are dual temperature wine cellar but they stores like 40 to 100 bottles ! I am not a big drinker and don't wanna spend that kinda money. anyone has any info or knows if I can just get one of those 6 to 9 bottles wine cellar and have both white and red wine in it together in the same tempature? Thanks