Shipping & Storing Wine Properly: Critical Control Points for Success
Winemakers take such care to monitor temperature control every step of the way from harvest to bottling. The same care needs to be taken to handle your wine under proper conditions during both shipping and long-term storage to preserve the integrity of its aroma and flavor characteristics, and its value.
How to Store Wine Properly
Conditions need to be just right in order for your age-worthy wines to be stored properly. There are a few key conditions for proper cellaring:
- Temperature: Between 53-57°F
- Humidity: Between 60-65%
- To prevent corks from drying out
- No exposure to UV light
- UV light can cause wines to age prematurely
- No agitation
- To prevent disturbing sediment that may be in the wine
- Store the bottles on their side
- To keep the corks moist and prevent cracking that could cause the wine to oxidize.
The temperature range for ideal wine storage allows the flavor and aroma compounds to age naturally over time, developing desirable tertiary flavors of truffles, roasted nuts, fall leaves, and many others. Acid and tannin also become more mellow over time. Cellaring wine is ideal to evolve bold red wines, and it’s so much fun to taste wines through that evolution!
Why is Wine Storage Temperature So Important?
What happens to wine when it gets too hot, anyway? Have you ever seen a bottle of wine where the cork seems to be bulging, and you can see evidence of seepage (sticky residue dripping down the bottle)? By the time that has happened, the wine has become far too hot.
When you swirl the wine in your glass it’s to release all the complex flavor and aroma compounds that make enjoying wine such a uniquely cerebral sensory experience. Those compounds in the wine are molecules that are volatile, meaning they are delicate. Once released and exposed to oxygen, these volatile compounds begin to diminish in intensity. If volatile aromas are too cold, they may not be perceived, too hot and they may be lost or destroyed.
A wine that has become too hot will lose its delicate balance in the complexity of its volatile aroma compounds. It may have off, cooked, or other spoiled flavors if it has been held at either an extremely high temperature for a short period of time or a slightly too warm temperature for a very long time.
Wine Storage Temperature Danger Zone
What is that temperature threshold that can take a beautiful bottle of Burgundy from liquid gold to vinegar? The danger zone begins at 70°F. Be wary of wine held at temperatures above 75°F for more than a few days. Above 80°F, that wine is at risk with each passing hour. Standard room temperature is approximately 75°F. Far too warm for long-term wine storage.
To avoid losing your wines’ beautiful complexity and to preserve its value, wine storage conditions are absolutely critical. And that is absolutely why Vinum 55 was born! We are so pleased to offer our climate-controlled facilities to our wine-loving members. But long term storage isn’t the only critical point where the temperature is of paramount importance. The shipping process must also be carefully controlled.
Vinum 55 DTC Wine Shipping: Your Warm Weather Wine Shipping Solution
In states like Arizona and Texas, standard shipping and courier services simply cannot guarantee the safety of your wines on their journey from the winery to your doorstep. Especially during the very warm summer months. For years, the only way to receive your bottles is to either roll the dice and hope ice packs and styrofoam will keep your wine safe, or wait until cooler weather prevails.
The same guidelines for wine storage apply to wine shipping. This is where Vinum 55’s Direct to Consumer (DTC) Service comes into the picture. We care for your wine the way we would our own, and this directive drives all our concierge services. Careful shipment of wine is an important component of wine collecting whether you are a new enthusiast or a rare wine investor. It is absolutely imperative that wine is handled carefully from the moment it leaves the producer or merchant until it reaches your doorstep. With Vinum 55’s DTC service, your wines are handled by wine-trained professionals and shipped in temperature-controlled 55°F vans.
Vinum 55 DTC Shipping Process
Here is a breakdown of what our DTC shipping process looks like:
- Shipping labels are sent to the winery or fulfillment location
- 55°F transport is coordinated by our team
- Insurance and unpacking services
- Tracking numbers are sent to clients in a five-point communication cascade (email and text message)
- Delivery to the recipient is by appointment, with a 10-minute window for arrival
- Proof of delivery is captured (ShipCompliant compatible)
Personalized Delivery Appointments
Our appointments for delivery are scheduled to the minute—no more waiting all day for the common carrier to arrive. Clients can change their preferred shipping address at any point at no extra charge and we can hold the shipment for up to 30 days if the recipient is unavailable. And how long does it take for this process to complete from the moment the shipping label is printed until your wine arrives on our doorstep? Shipping from California to Arizona or Texas takes approximately 10-15 days.
Wine Transport Fulfillment: Communication
Communication is a class above what is offered by other common carrier services. Clear tracking numbers are included with each email so you can keep an eye on the location of your wine. The winery also has access to our tracking system so they can monitor the process.
The communication cascade touchpoints you will receive proceed as follows:
- Email notification the moment your wine is picked up
- Another email to schedule your delivery date and time
- Text message notification two days before delivery (you may reschedule a new date and time at no additional charge if your originally scheduled delivery no longer works for you)
- Finally, another text notification when the driver is on the way
When the wine arrives at your doorstep, your contactless delivery acceptance is the final step in the process.
Winery Partners
We are proudly partnered with many fine wineries and retailers, and we are constantly looking to add new partners to enable us to offer this exceptional DTC shipping service to as many wine lovers as possible. The list below is not exhaustive, but an example of who we are so pleased to have as our partners:
- Antica Terra
- Argyle
- Bergström
- Bethel Heights
- Coeur de Terre
- Cristom
- Dakota Shy
- Del Dotto
- Elk Cove
- Envoyer Fine Wines
- Fableist
- Flaneur
- JK Carriere
- French Country Wines
- Davids Wine Cellar
- Lynmar Estate
- Patricia Greene
- Purple Hands
- Rex Hill
- Sanguis
- Seven Apart
- Sokol Blosser
- Soter
- Big Table Farm
- Laventure
- Ken Wright Cellars
Are You Ready for Guaranteed Climate-Controlled Wine Shipping?
If you are a wine club member or on an allocation list for one of the wineries listed above, the first step in the process is to request a quote from our logistics team. Once you approve the quote, we’ll take it from there!
Vinum 55 is providing an elevated service experience to our members in Arizona, a notoriously difficult area to ship wine to safely. Our members are delighted by the ease of use and personal touch of wine shipments. —Melissa S., Schramsberg & Davies Vineyards
We are so pleased to offer our logistics and DTC services as a wine shipping solution to wine lovers in Arizona and Texas. As trained wine professionals, our logistics processes are honed down to the smallest detail because we understand how important it is to protect your valuable wines. Cheers!