Fibonacci Cellars

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Fibonacci Brokerage offers an exclusive service of wine storage. We offer this service to both club members and individuals alike. Wether you are looking for temporary storage, short term or long term, we are able to fulfill your request and storage needs. We have a storage facility maintained by our staff and we store your bottles in the correct climate and position according to its associated storage requirements. We have limited wine refrigerators/coolers at the moment. Our temperature storage ranges from 53 to 57 degrees for both red and whites. Short term wine storage is preferred for high end wine, and be negatively effected is stored in your kitchen fridge around 40 degrees, which presents a too cold and too dry effect. Our storage is designed to retain humidity rather than drive it out.

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Please contact us for a consultation or click here to get a quote!

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How Should Wine Be Stored?

Only a small fraction of wine produced worldwide is intended to be aged; most bottles sold in the United States and elsewhere should be consumed well within a year of purchase. Wines that are appropriate for aging require proper long-term storage. Under the right environmental conditions, the wines that fall into this category evolve and improve for years or even decades after they are bottled.

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• "Regardless of whether you are making a short-term or long-term commitment to your wine, the way in which it should be stored to ensure the best possible drinking experience are the same."

• "All wines must be stored in a dark, cool yet humid environment that is free of vibrations and harsh odours. The temperature should remain between 10-15 degrees Celsius (50-59 degrees Fahrenheit) to prevent premature ageing. This principle applies equally to both short-term and long-term wine storage"

• "To prevent oxidization and evaporation, humidity levels should stand at about 65% to 75%, and the bottles should be placed on their sides with the labels facing up for easy recognition and to help the cork stay moist"

• "Wine should also be stored in an area with little to no vibrations or strong odours. Constant tremors can cause chemical disturbances in wine, and strong odors can severely alter the flavor profile of a wine" 

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Short-Term Wine Storage
"Short-term wine storage consists of storing wine for no more than six months. This usually is wine that was purchased for immediate consumption and may have even been slightly aged by the supplier or wine maker prior to being put on the market. If you only occasionally indulge in fine wines and do not have access to a wine cellar, then you might want to consider investing in a wine fridge or perhaps installing a small wine display somewhere out of direct sunlight and away from fluctuating temperatures for this purpose"

Long-Term Wine Storage
"Long-term wine storage, on the other hand, usually involves storing the wine for five years or longer. Depending on the size of your wine collection and whether you intend to expand it over time, it might be necessary to delineate a more permanent solution, such as a wine cellar or wine room. Ensuring that you select the right kind of wine racking to suit your storage needs and collecting style will make it easier to organize your wines and to locate specific bottles when their optimum consumption window has arrived"

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"Once your precious wine leaves the sheltered winery, it is crucial to know what temperatures it can be exposed to during shipments and storage and still retain its quality.Empirical wisdom has taught us that bottled and bulk wines change with time inlays that are greatly influenced by storage temperatures. Traditionally wine is stored at cellar temperatures between 10 and 16°C (50 to 60°F), and our empirical expectations of a properly aged wine are based on this temperature range. The hundreds of concurrent aging reactions that contribute to the aroma, flavor, structure, color, and healthiness of a wine all proceed at individual rates. They are exponentially and differently accelerated by elevated temperatures. Because of these multiple and unpredictable changes in the aging of the wine, temperatures higher than the ideal long-term storage range shown in Table 1 on page 3 are generally considered undesirable. While most commercial wines are stabilized against aesthetically objectionable instabilities such as protein hazes or crystal precipitates, there are no rapid or standardized tests to assure the sensory quality of a wine without actually tasting it" (Bordelon).

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Aging reactions

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"Aging reactions in wine have substantially different rates, which explains why “speed-aging” just by elevated temperature alone will not yield a wine comparable to one that was aged at a traditional cellar temperature of around 13°C (55°F). Some examples of temperature increases that would double the aging reaction rate are 3.8°C for oxygen uptake, 7.8°C for browning, 16°C for ethyl carbamate formation, and 30°C for sulfur dioxide decline in white wines" (Bordelon).

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"The aroma (by nose) and flavor (by mouth) qualities of a wine are the most important criteria that determine the value of the product, which can range from $2 to $5,000 per bottle. Both the high and the low temperature tolerances of a given wine depend on its original chemical composition, stabilization treatments at the winery, as well as its provenance and previous storage history. On the positive side, wines stored at the appropriate temperatures can age and improve with the development of “bottle bouquet” and the “softening” (mostly precipitation) of harsh tannins for a more supple “mouthfeel.” Wine’s ability to develop and become more complex in the bottle has elevated it from a mere beverage to a glorious and precious experience" (Bordelon).

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"The greatest storage hazards for wine are associated with elevated temperatures and temperature fluctuations. Any temperature above 16°C (60°F) accelerates the maturation process, may change the wine’s varietal character or its sense of origin (“terroir”), and can shorten the life expectancy of a wine (especially of whites). Temperatures above 24°C (75°F) greatly and untypically age most wines, leading to undesirable aroma, flavor, and color changes. Diurnal (day vs. night) temperature spikes during the commercial shipping of wine are not unusual but should be avoided. Within the entire distribution chain from winery to wine consumer, wines should never see an even short-term exposure to temperatures of 30°C (86°F) or above. It can be argued that wine should be shipped and stored under conditions that are at least equal to much less precious commodities such as milk, ice cream, or produce" (Bordelon). 

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Bottle storage conditions:

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"What’s too hot?

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• "Visible protein hazes are occasionally precipitated by elevated temperatures in marginally heat- stabilized wines. These hazes constitute only an aesthetic flaw. However, stabilizing a wine against visual flaws due to heat exposure may hide damages that such exposure caused to its aroma qualities. Sensory damages may only become apparent once the bottle has been opened and tasted."

• "Temperatures above 16°C (60°F) may stimulate the growth of dormant microbes, leading to off-flavors, hazes, and excess carbon dioxide."

• "Temperature fluctuations test the integrity and position of the bottle closure, especially corks, and can lead to the introduction of air into wine, with rapid spoilage following."

  • "Leakage and seepage of wine past the closure caused by excessive temperatures and resulting headspace pressure will damage the label and other              packaging materials and may make the wine unsalable."

  • "Storage at elevated temperature may cause excessive extraction of odors from the bottle closures as well as increased scavenging and permeation-               based loss of protective sulfur dioxide or certain wine aromas."

  • "Early experience with shipping barrels of wine in excessive heat produced accelerated oxidation."

• " A significant browning of white wines, with aldehydic aromas of Spanish Sherry, caramel, and nuttiness, was given the name “Madeirization.” This is          usually a grave defect unless the wine was intended to be an oxidized style (e.g., Madeira, Sherry, Port) in the first place."

  • "Most wines naturally contain traces of a precursor to a probable human carcinogen, ethyl carbamate, which can form at accelerated rates under

       elevated temperatures, especially above 30°C (86°F)."

   • "High temperatures also test the integrity of sparkling wine bottles by causing the already high pressures (6 atm = 90 psi) to rise dramatically. Loss of

       sparkling wine by bottle bursting has been reported as a result of high temperature exposure."

 

B. What’s too cold?

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"Wines stored at cooler than recommended temperatures — below 10°C (50°F) — may not develop their full potential for aroma and flavor.

Storage at extremely low temperatures — 0°C (32°F) and below — for as little as 1 hour can cause the natural precipitation of potassium bitartrate in the form of visible crystals in white wines and in the form of colored crystals or a sludge-like mixture of crystals in red wines. This material is not resoluble in the wine. While its presence is considered only a visual defect, consumers may confuse it with broken glass, which may create litigation issues.

At temperatures below -5°C (23°F) wines with an alcohol content of 14 percent by volume and below will start to freeze, causing corks to push out and bottles to eventually break" (Bordelon).    

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  • "Moving bottles from very cold storage to a warmer environment will cause condensation of water on the bottle, labels, and cork, depending on the relative humidity of the surrounding air. This can easily lead to mold growth and significant damage to the entire package" (Bordelon). 

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C. What’s the preferred bottle position?

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• "Wine bottles closed with corks (both bark or synthetic) should be stored upside down or sideways to minimize the gas exchange between the outside atmosphere and the wine inside to avoid accelerated oxidation. Individual cases of wine should be marked to indicate which position the bottles are in.

• Ideally, all wines are stored in refrigerated warehouses and shipped in refrigerated containers/trucks with the temperature exposure continuously logged to assure that the refrigeration system has indeed been working.

• In very hot climates, including, e.g., shipments across the equator or through the Panama Canal, the ability of refrigerated containers to maintain a steady cool temperature may be compromised.

• In general, it is recommended to avoid shipping wine unrefrigerated during the hottest months of the year.

• When wine is stored or moved in containers on trucks, railroad cars, or container ships, especially in or through hot climates, the wine stored in the upper part of the container exposed to direct sunlight will heat up the fastest.

• If refrigerated trucks are not available, it is preferable to use non-isolated containers in order to avoid the accumulation of hot air in the container space above the pallets of wine during the day and continuous heat dissipation during the night. Instead, the pallets inside the container should be covered with insulation blankets or similar materials.

• Bulk wine trucked in practically empty tankers tends to slosh significantly, increasing the loss of sulfur dioxide and the risk of oxidation if the head space in the tank in not spared with inert gases such as nitrogen or argon." (Bordelon). 

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Wine ageability

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"If storage is provided without excessive ultraviolet light exposure, and the temperature is constant ( ± 1-1.5°C or ± 2-3°F) and in the ranges listed, typical white table wines should retain their quality for about three years after bottling. Red table wines, depending on winemaking style, may retain or improve their quality for three to 10 years. Note that these are very general guidelines, as some wines are made to be consumed within their first year while others may age gracefully for several decades" (Bordelon).

"However, experience and research have shown that improper storage conditions during distribution through the entire supply chain — from producer to négociant to shipper to importer to distributor to retailer or restaurant to consumer — is the most common cause of loss of a wine’s quality and value. Documentation of both authenticity and provenance, temperature monitoring of shipments and storage conditions, and the traceability of wines during their entire lifespan is crucial to prevent such losses" (Bordelon).

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Direct shipping issues

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"Direct, Internet-generated shipments of wine are a popular way to make wine-growing both sustainable for the winery and regional wines more accessible and affordable to the consumer. However, the major global package shipping companies do not have logistical systems in place that protect wine adequately from damage during shipment and intermediate storage. Obviously especially in the summertime, the nonrefrigerated local delivery trucks are loaded in the early hours of the morning and distribute packages until the late afternoon. Within this 13-hour time window, wines are frequently exposed to temperatures above 26°C (79°F)" (Bordelon)."

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"Unfortunately, many commercial wines are so over-stabilized that adverse transport conditions that affect the sensory properties and quality of the wine go unnoticed because the wine stays visually intact. No precipitation and haze of heat-instable protein can be observed because the wine was probably treated with a substantial amount of bentonite, which by itself has the capacity to strip a wine of aroma compounds.

Global tracking of individual cases or bottles of wine using GPS and RFID technology have become readily available and are used to protect many of the world’s most precious wines" (Bordelon).

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References:

Bordelon, Bruce. "Wine Storage Guidelines".Department of Horticulture & Landscape Architecture, Purdue University .Viticulture Professor. Online Source. < http://www.foodsci.purdue.edu/research/labs/enology/FS-58-W.pdf>.

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