Question about cellaring

[Justin A]

Hi Guys,
Hope everyone is have a good week. My question pertains to cellaring bottles of Madeira in a cold cellar. It has been written that Madeira prefers warmer temps for bottle cellaring, but I havent read anywhere about the effect that 55-59 degrees F may have on the wines. Has anyone read anything about this? My bottles are all standing up on top of my racking systems and am concerned that the relatively cold temps may cause crystals to form or even worse, cause the blended wines to separate. Any comments would be appreciated guys.

Thanks

[Roy Hersh]

Hi Justin,

You wrote: "I am concerned that the relatively cold temps may cause crystals to form or even worse, cause the blended wines to separate."

I store my wines laying down in my 55 degree F. cellar. RH is a bit low but so be it. For Madeira, I have never seen any issue with crystals forming or the separation in older bottles. I would not be concerned at all about this, to be honest.

[Eric Ifune]

I store my newly bottled wines horizontally, mainly because of space constraints. My old Vintages or Soleras are standing upright as per Mannie Berk of the Rare Wine Company. These are in my temperature controlled cellar. Since Madeira is kept in cask for such a long time, I think most of the tartrates have already precipitated out before bottling. Even if there was tartrate precipitation, I wouldn't be too concerned; with my table wines it's not a big deal. I know that in the grand old homes at the turn of the 20th century, those with Madeira cellars tended to keep them in the attic with warmer temperatures. Many kept their demijohns uncorked. Unfortunately, I don't have such a space, nor such large vessels of Madeira!