Saturday, September 08, 2007

Hello,
Early this week I received a shipment of six bottles of wine. When I opened the box, the bottles were hot to the touch. Will this cause any issues with or damage to the wine? I was planning on storing the wine in my wine cellar for a couple of years. Will heating the bottles decrease the shelf-life of the wine?

Thank you,
Peter, AZ
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Hi Peter,

While this is not the best thing to wish for, if the bottle gets warmed up it quickly shows: the cork is being pushed out by the expansion of the wine in the bottle!
As long as the wine has not sipped out and created a way out (and therefore a way in for the oxygen), you can always push the cork back in and the incident should be of no consequence.
Generally speaking rapid variations of temperature are not good for wine but it’s only one of many factors in its life expectancy!

Dr Mic