Summer temperatures are at all-time highs—is it still safe to ship wine? Whether you have purchased wine from your favorite producer, or you’re moving and in need of transporting your entire collection, your wine deserves proper treatment to maintain its quality every step of the way.
Wine Shipping Temperature is About Quality & Provenance
At Vinum 55 storage facilities we check the temperature of every bottle we receive as a measure of quality control for our clients (pictured above). Even if the bottle is received at an acceptable temperature, we will notify clients if signs of heat damage are detected (read more below). Maintaining safe wine storage temperatures during shipping is also critical to preserving its value and provenance (learn more about wine provenance in our blog post here). If you’re cellaring your wine to enjoy later down the road or as an investment to later take to auction, temperature control during shipping can make or break your goals.
What Does Heat Do To Wine?
Exposure to heat can cause irreparable damage to your wine. Prolonged exposure to heat speeds up the aging process, destroys delicate flavors (making the wine taste ‘cooked’), and can lead to the development of volatile acidity (making the wine taste like vinegar or acetone). Wine that is stored above 80°F for a prolonged period of time, can become damaged.
How do you know if your wine has been damaged by heat? Unless there are visible signs, you may not know until you taste the wine.
Signs of overheating:
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- A compromised, bulging, or cracked cork
- Wine seepage from the cork/capsule
- Discoloration
- Increased ullage, or head space in the bottle. The fill level is a sign of evaporation from a damaged cork.
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The contents of a wine bottle expand when they are heated, and that may cause corks to push and bulge and wine to seep through. Rapid aging caused by extreme heat also adversely affects the wine’s color. White wine that shows premature browning, and or a young red wine with an orange or brick-colored rim are signs of heat damage.
Traditional Shipping Services
Summer is not the time for standard ground shipping. Traditional shipping services such as UPS and FedEx do not use climate-controlled vehicles. Unless the courier has a climate-controlled vehicle, your wine may be exposed to elevated temperatures during transportation or warehouse holding. Temperatures inside a delivery vehicle can exceed 120°F during the summer. And if your delivery is missed, it will stay in the hot truck for a full day’s deliveries, and be stored in a warehouse until it can be delivered successfully.
What About Cold-Chain Shipping Services?
Even if the wine is shipped via ‘Cold-Chain’ Services—meaning the truck that picks up the wine is temp-controlled—the delivery trucks themselves are never temp-controlled. There’s a big misconception that if wine is shipped ‘Cold-Chain,’ it’s protected through its entire journey.
Don’t Ice Packs and Styrofoam Keep the Wine Cool Enough?
Styrofoam can insulate cold packs used to maintain a cool environment during shipping. However, during hot summer months with traditional courier services, the cold pack will melt quickly as the temperature inside the insulated box rises. Once that temperature increases, the Styrofoam will then insulate the hot, elevated temperature until the wine is unpacked and cooled (keeping the wine in a dangerous temperature range even after landing in a cooler environment). Styrofoam and cold packs work well when ambient temperatures are low enough to maintain a safe, cool temperature, but they can cause double trouble in very hot weather.
Many wineries and retailers do not ship their wines when temperatures are above about 70°F to protect the integrity of their products and the consumer from receiving a damaged wine. If you have chosen for your wine to be shipped with standard ground shipping against the recommendation of a winery or retailer, they will likely no longer ensure the quality of the product once it leaves their premises.
Simple Dos & Don’ts of Wine Shipping in Hot Weather
It doesn’t matter if your home cellar is kept at a perfect 55°F if your wine was damaged somewhere along the distribution line. Heat-damaged wine cannot recover. To prevent this from happening, follow a few simple guidelines:
Don’t:
- Use traditional ground shipping during hot weather
- Assume ice packs will be sufficient to protect your wine
- Transport your wine collection to a new home in a standard moving truck
Do:
- Wait to have your wine shipped until cooler weather prevails
- Have your wine shipped with a trusted DTC or wine logistics service that utilizes climate-controlled vehicles
Our best advice for shipping wine during hot weather is to do so with a wine delivery service that uses climate-controlled vehicles (such as Vinum 55’s logistics and DTC services) or defer your shipment until the weather cools down. At Vinum 55 we are pleased to be your partner in wine every step of the way from curating the perfect bottle, and transporting the wine safely so you can enjoy every delicious sip.