Summer storage: Hot, but not bothered

Vine, our specialist logistics provider, trebled its warehouse space in April when it opened a temperature-controlled wine chamber within London City Bond, Tilbury. The new warehouse space is the only temperature-controlled wine chamber in the LCB Tilbury complex and offers the ideal storage environment for fine wine. Because wine is sensitive to temperature change, the ability to maintain a cool, constant temperature inside becomes ever more important as the summer heats up.

Temperature fluctuations cause wine to expand and contract rapidly, thereby running the risk of allowing oxygen - the enemy - into the bottle. (Read more about the dangers of wine aeration here.) The Vine chamber has been designed with this in mind and remains a constant 16.5°C. To illustrate this, the graph below shows the outside temperature readings at Tilbury over the last month, along with those from inside the chamber. 

 
Vine, a wholly owned subsidiary of Liv-ex Ltd, handles all Liv-ex transactions and provides a specialist storage and transport solution for the international fine wine trade. Click here for more information on Vine services.

Comments

[double glazing quote]

"Comparison with outside temperature isn't very meaningful; what I'd like to see is comparison with the other storage areas at LCB." - I agree, it doesn't prove anything by comparing it to outside temperature.

[Martin]

The higher the temperature the more rapid reactions become.
10 Celsius increase in temp double the reaction speed.
It is called van't Hoff's rule
2-3 degrees fluctuations over the day are not that bad, as they are tempered by the wooden box and the glass bottle.
More than 5 degrees are really bad and the worst are extremely dry conditions, but even 50% RH are OK, as long as the cork does not dry out and lets oxygen in.
I believe 16-17 Celsius is too high over the long term (more than lets say 10 years of storage)
12 Celsius or lower are perfect for long term storage, as it will allow the wine 50% more time than 17 Celsius. But what is long term storage nowadays anyway.. 5-8 years or less?

[David]

Comparison with outside temperature isn't very meaningful; what I'd like to see is comparison with the other storage areas at LCB. Depending how thick-walled/deep those are, their temperature fluctuations may or may not be a worry.