Heat Damage

Heat damage is a killer. It's costly to store wine, and a few hours in the heat can completely ruin any bottle. You'll know a bottle has heat damage because it has a kind of plasticky smell, and that added smell is always the same, no matter what kind of wine you're drinking. The best way to learn this smell is to buy two bottles of wine and intentionally leave one in the sun or on the radiator for a couple of days. Then open the two bottles and you'll see the difference. It's sort of like the smell of a burned cat - once you smell it, you'll never forget it. And you'll start to notice that MANY restaurants serve by-the-glass wine that has been cooked.

If you're serious about wine, you'll need a wine cellar, and a wine cellar is temperature controlled. A wine cellar is NOT a basement location where it's cool most of the time - all you need is one supernasty hot day to ruin your entire collection! I once bought a wine fridge, and it was on and compressing all day and all night, to the point where I decided to return it. It wasn't a very efficient way to keep wine cool and wasted too much electricity.

What I'm saying is that there is no in-between. If you're buying wine that you intend to store and enjoy in later years, you must take the plunge and learn everything about wine cellars and make the investment. If not, you could use a service.

There are several services that will store your wine for you. Here in New York, there are some that will even track your cellar online, so you can order a bottle delivered to your apartment for dinner. They are expensive, but losing an entire cellar of fancy wine to a hot summer costs even more.