In the classic episode "Any Old Port in a Storm", Lieutenant Columbo traps his suspect by pretending to be a wine connoisseur. The hapless criminal correctly identifies that a particular wine has been ruined by excess heat, not knowing that the bottle was from his own spoiled collection.
Great detective drama - and it raises the important issue of wine storage. Wine is certainly sensitive to temperature fluctuations but it's not necessary to keep wine in perfectly regulated conditions. I have visited many wineries that store their wine in ancient stone-walled barns with no artificial heating or cooling. The thickness of the walls protects the wine from the extremes of winter cold and summer heat, but the ambient temperature inside definitely increases in summer and cools considerably in winter.
This is not a problem for the wines. In fact the seasonal variation in temperatures allows wine to evolve. It hibernates in the winter - changing very little, and 'comes on' in the warmer summer months, integrating and softening in the bottle.
However, it is important to differentiate between seasonal temperature changes that happen very slowly and rapid temperature changes in the home caused by central heating. The biggest problem is the dryness, which causes corks to shrink, allowing oxygen into the wine and spoiling it - and this can happen in a few months.
So if you're planning to store wine at home for any extended period of time you do need to shield it from daily temperature changes, direct sunlight and especially from the dryness caused by central heating. Obviously a cellar is ideal but if you don't have one try the garage, a larder floor, or under the stairs. If you plan to keep wine for several years my advice would be to borrow some cellar space from a friend and repay them with a bottle when it's ready.
Fortunately Hedonist Wines are sold ready to drink, so that's at least one headache that can be avoided.
www.hedonistwines.co.uk
