Be Careful Where You Buy Your Red.

A few days ago I dropped into a local food and wine store to grab a bottle of South Australian Cabernet Sauvignon that I had been looking forward to all day. As I made my way to the back of the store where the red wines were stored I noticed that the room temperature suddenly rose. This immediately set alarm bells rattling through my brain and as I picked up the bottle they became deafening!

Unfortunately this happens quite a lot in Hong Kong and I suspect in most countries that enjoy elevated temperatures and humidity. The problem is that most people don't realise how badly and easily wine can be effected by heat.

Prolonged exposure to raised temperatures effectively cooks the wine and results in sweet stewy fruits, jaminess and often discolouration. This is known as Maderisation.

This most commonly happens in transport through being left in non-insulated shipping containers in the summer sun or in non-temperature controlled warehouses. The other place this can occur is in the retail outlet or when it gets placed in the trendy wine rack in your non temperature controlled home.

The ideal storage temperature for red wine is between 10-16C (50-55F) which is actually quite cool. A simple test is to pick up the bottle. If it feels cool then it is probably OK if not then chances are you may have some issues with it, if not today, in the near future.

Of course my need for an Aussie Cab over powered my common sense and I purchased the bottle. Luckily it was only slightly maderised and I championed on through it. This is about the third time this has happened to me when purchasing from small or non-specialist wine shops.

My recommendation: if the wine is not stored in a temperature controlled environment, don't buy it. 

Dean Aslin.

Dean is the Marketing Manager for Saveurs International (Asia) and he welcomes all comments on his posts.