I just dropped a bottle of 2018 Ridge Monte Bello as I moved it into storage. Glass is everywhere and I smell like a winery. Looks like I'll have to buy one at retail to replace it (as opposed to futures which is how I source them). Ugh.

Brutal!

BSD said:

---

I just dropped a bottle of 2018 Ridge Monte Bello as I moved it into storage. Glass is everywhere and I smell like a winery. Looks like I'll have to buy one at retail to replace it (as opposed to futures which is how I source them). Ugh.

---

Zeroth world problem, if there is such a thing. (and there is, because I just made it up)

big bummer

okay, 3 years in the making but finally going to SY Valley later this month.

need dinner rec for one night (considering options) and maybe a small winery to visit to fill in the schedule. Area is just reopening so checking every day to see what's going on. Hopefully everyone is open and able to do tastings, etc.

SY is?

Had to look up...

Santa Ynez Valley

Isn't that where Jonata is?

Where are you staying? Venturing into Santa Barbara at all? If so some slam dunk dinner recs there + one good off the beaten path winery.

GBMont3 said:

---

Where are you staying? Venturing into Santa Barbara at all? If so some slam dunk dinner recs there + one good off the beaten path winery.

---

other than the airport, not going to be in SB. Only have 4 nights so staying in Los Alamos the whole time.

sorry the SY wasn't clear... been on the brain for me so figured everyone else would know what I meant!

Stolpman, Jonata, Beckmen, and Margurum are all out there and very good.

Quote:

---

Everyone loves a quick trip to Napa, but sometimes it's just too difficult to get away. Now Seven Stones and our wonderful partners at Vine Vault are bringing Napa to you. And if that wasn't enough, we are bringing some friends along as well! Check out the locations below to see which will be closest to you and then make sure you get tickets to come taste such great wines as Diamond Mountain Winery (formerly Constant), Spottswoode, Jarvis, Lerner Project and more. And of course, Seven Stones! We will have current releases to taste and perhaps a few library wines. Click on the link below that is nearest to you and reserve your spot right away! Attendance for the events will be limited. In addition, a portion of the ticket sales from each event will go to support a specific charity in your area. Learn more below!

---

Great tasting from several wineries via VineVault. They did a similar event at the end of 2019 that was pretty awesome. I plan on being at the Dallas one.

Austin (Link) 8/12
Dallas (Link) 8/13
Houston (Link) 8/14

edit:
Diamond Mountain Vineyard
Gamble Family Vineyards
Jarvis Estate
Larkmead
Lerner Project
Seven Stones
Spottswoode Estate
Switchback Ridge

HTown - you seem to know a bit about Santa Barbara. What are your thoughts on Demetria and Koehler? Heading there with family this summer and looking for something new. We've hit a bunch of places in the area but those two are right on the Foxen Canyon Road and have some wines that interest us.

Or should we just go to Melville?

Update on the Monte Bello breakage: they will be sending me a new bottle at my original futures price. Whew! Saved me about $100.

Now I just wait 20-25 years to drink it...

Yeah, I'll be dead then...

I've got three '15s and I won't be waiting 20 years!

Greener Acres said:

---

HTown - you seem to know a bit about Santa Barbara. What are your thoughts on Demetria and Koehler? Heading there with family this summer and looking for something new. We've hit a bunch of places in the area but those two are right on the Foxen Canyon Road and have some wines that interest us.

Or should we just go to Melville?

---

Sorry, my knowledge of Santa Barbara is limited to those I mentioned.

cecil77 said:

---

Yeah, I'll be dead then...

I've got three '15s and I won't be waiting 20 years!

---

Yeah, I better plan on 10-15 years or else I won't enjoy too many of those.

Got a little story for ya Ags...

Wife and I recently returned from Napa with a couple of cases average about $75 / bottle. That's about my limit dollar-wise and with this load we've now got around 65 bottles at more or less this value. We put together some racking the bottles stored in one of those closets beneath the stairs, decent size so plenty of room and we're leaving the door cracked about 6-8 inches. We're in NW Austin and I just temp'd the room at 75 degrees or about the temp we keep the house at.

Reading online this is probably a bit warmer than is ideal but I'm not looking to store these for years and years (but may take a while to drink through them and will reload with the clubs we joined) and this temp should be pretty consistent so fluctuation is not really an issue.

So the question is should I be trying to do anything additional to cool down the room? Is a consistent 75 really a wine killer? I don't know that there are a ton of options outside of going ahead and investing an actual wine fridge and if so can that be kept in the garage? I've got a little beer fridge in the garage already, maybe I buy it a friend?

I have an old wine fridge that I relocated to the garage and so far, it's managed to hang in there. Although I have no doubt the temp variations out there are working it pretty hard and it'll go out at some point. I try and at least glance over at it and make sure it's still running whenever I'm in there.

As for cellaring at 75, I'll let others more knowledgeable than I comment, but my limited understanding is that shouldn't be a huge problem if you don't intend to cellar for many years.

We had a lengthy conversation about this a few pages back. 75, as long as it's steady, should be fine. Issue a lot of people have is their house gets up to 76 during the day, then 70 at night, etc. Higher temps won't necessarily ruin wine, it just won't age as well for as long. One thing about a closet like that is you probably aren't in it too often to notice if the temp is changing.

Personally, I wouldn't keep wine under the stairs as vibrations are also bad for wine. I may be overthinking that, though.

Enemies of aging wine are light, temp delta (probably two biggest), high temps, vibrations, and low humidity.

Yeah I suspected this would have been discussed somewhere here.

The vibration question is an interesting one. I'll have my kids run up and down and see how bad that is. I think I've got the rack on a wall of the closet that may not take a beating. And its a pretty large "closet". Prior to moving all this crap out and the wine in I had a little 6 gun safe, a vacuum cleaner, a set of golf clubs, leaf for the dining table and NUMEROUS throw pillows (not that I minded the throw pills...sheesh!)

I also think that while the wife and I continue to work from home the house will only vary between 73-76 or so but once we go back to our offices we'd typically set the thermostat higher during the middle of the day, more like 78-80. But again these probably won't sit for YEARS but maybe we rethink letting the house get that hot during the day, at least the downstairs.

And not that I'm trying to spend your money for you, but a 50 bottle fridge can be had for around $400. If you've already got almost 5 grand in wine and have joined wine clubs that will be sending you more bottles in the $75 range, is there a reason you're opposed to a wine fridge?

No not at all and actually feel like the wine fridge is probably the best idea. I'm annoyed (at myself) that we set this thing up, including hauling the gun safe upstairs and building the rack, only to potentially relocate again!

* This topic is way overthought, but it's fun and I do it, too.

* Heat by itself (as has already been mentioned) is a wine life shortener, not a ruiner - unless you're talking scorching, like near boiling...

* Temp delta is bad because of cork contraction/expansion which risks oxidation

* Humidity is only a factor for long term storage, like 5+ years or probably more like 8+ years. Only issue w/ humidity is the cork drying out, breaking it's seal and risk of oxidation.

* Honestly if shelf life is two years or under, nothing much matters, unless it's really extreme. Store them standing up if you want.

* The advice above that at 65 $75 bottles you're hooked and may as well succumb is apt. Start w/ a small chiller and go from there. You can put a tray of water w/ a sponge in it ( I used a grouting sponge as they're dense) to keep the humidity up. Be aware that really dry air (like the 10% humidity in your kitchen fridge) can dry out the cork much more quickly - so do think about the humidity if you get a chiller. But again, for a year or two, probably doesn't matter much. Move towards some wine decor as quickly as possible and you can get wine to be your primary couples hobby. Well, almost primary...

Many years ago on this thread I asked for wine fridge advice. A poster here said "take the size fridge you think you need and double it."

I should have listened. Instead of a consolidated wine collection, we have 100 here, 50 there, and then had to succumb to the offsite storage option in addition.

This is a great point. We've had a 16 (!) bottle fridge for a few years now, and back when we got it we just didn't keep many on hand for a long time. That's kind of changed though as now I have some good wines I want to keep a little longer, and we just tend to collect more bottles now than we used to.

Think it would be worth it for me to remove 1 of the 16 bottles and put a sponge in there?

I think in our next abode, with more room, we would like to up our wine fridge size a bit. Just like 752bro4, we have the 16 fridge full, then some bottles in the fridge (I know we all *discussed* this colorfully a while back), and the rest just in other spots and queued for sooner drinking.

Every time we open a spot or 2 in the fridge, we backfill it immediately. I am sure I am not alone.

I'm up to a 170-bottle fridge and 2 50-bottle fridges. Pretty much all full and will probably have to look into offsite storage in the fall once the fall shipments start.

Quote:

---

Think it would be worth it for me to remove 1 of the 16 bottles and put a sponge in there?

---

Nah. Unless you've got 10 year bottles...

Through the generosity of friends (one on this thread) I have two 480 bottle chillers now. They're nowhere near full though...

Lowe's/Home Depot occasionally have sales, I bought two 48 bottle chillers for about $150ea about 12 years ago. They served us well for a long time.

The problem with buying wine chillers is that you tend to fill them quickly, and then need another one.

HTownAg98 said:

---

The problem with buying wine chillers is that you tend to fill them quickly, and then need another one.

---

that's some kind of Murphy's Law, I think

This was yesterday at a friend's party. Today we are all moving a little slow.