Fine wines in many leading UK stores including Fortnum and Mason and Harvey Nichols are kept at temperatures far higher than recommended, Decanter reveals next month.
In an article in the September issue of Decanter, out next Wednesday, wine writer Jim Budd investigates storage conditions at Fortnum and Mason, Harvey Nichols, Marks & Spencer and other leading stores.
He finds that all these stores, as well as branches of Tesco and Sainsbury's, keep some fine wines at 22°C or higher – well above the recommended temperature level of 18°C.
'There is a consensus that wine on the shelf should be kept cool,' Budd writes, quoting Isabel Graham-Yooll of London chains Jeroboams and Milroy's of Soho.
They aim 'to keep all wines at cellar temperature (10-15°C)', Graham-Yooll says, with wines out of direct sunlight.
Nevertheless at Milroy's of Soho Budd finds wines 'surprisingly warm', with a £135 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou 1995 and a Graham's 1955 port at 22°C.
Jeroboam's retail director Jonathan Wren assured decanter.com the air-conditioning was upgraded 'three weeks ago, as we thought the temperature wasn't quite right.'
At high-end department store Harvey Nichols' London branch, an £80 Taylor's 1985 vintage port was kept at 22°C, as was a 2004 Giaconda Pinot Noir from the Yarra Valley.
Wine buyer Robert Graves said there was very high turnover of stock which mitigated the problem, and he added, 'we are taking measures to control fluctuating temperatures, such as low-voltage lighting, a heat-reflective covering on the roof, and continually upgrading the air-conditioning.'
Elsewhere in London, Fortnum and Mason displayed a £230 Champagne Salon 1996 at 22°C, as well as clarets and other fine wines.
A spokesman for Fortnum's said. 'Our wine department is situated on the temperature-controlled lower ground floor. During the course of a day there can be minor variations in temperature due to customer footfall and the outside temperature.
'We constantly monitor the wines on display to ensure that they are not being adversely affected by these minor fluctuations. We also have a swift turnover of bottles in-store.'
Sainsbury's in Dulwich and Tesco Extra in Purley also displayed fine wines at high temperatures.
Sainsbury's said in a statement, 'All our fine wines are fast-moving and remain on-shelf for, on average, no more than a couple of weeks. It is recognised that fine wines, as long as not kept in areas of extreme temperatures do not suffer from short-term periods in temperatures of 20-22°C as recorded recently in our Dulwich Hamlets store.'
At Marks & Spencer's huge Oxford Street branch, a bottle of Champagne Oudinot NV registered 20-22°C, and a £60 Burgundy, Les Senteurs Clos de Vougeot 2004, weighed in at 22°C.
A spokeswoman for M&S said, 'We have never had a comment about our food sections being too hot. If we do get complaints, they are about the sections being too cool. But we do appreciate you letting us know.'
Selfridges was found to have the coolest wines. 'Lighting and temperature were major concerns' when they built the new wine shop, wine buyer Dawn Davies said.
Jim Budd visited the stores during the week of 23 June with a wine thermometer from CellarDine with a range of 4-22°C.
Read the full article in Decanter magazine September issue, out on 6 August.
Have your say... To post your comment on this story, email us at news@decanter.com, making sure the relevant headline is in the subject field
Assuming the turnover is fairly rapid (but sadly, probably in inverse ratio to the price!), especially considering the ambient temperature of an average Bordeaux 'chais', then this may not be disastrous, but keeping them standing upright for any length of time (see your photo) may well be more detrimental.
Phil Styles, St.Gaudent, France
Up until quite recently a large number of independent wine specialists, Nicolas and Oddbins and Majestic amongst them were displaying fine wines on the top shelves in stores quite unsuitable for wine storage, even for a short period of time. There was a lack of airconditioning, lack of ventilation in the stores and 2 or 3 fridges going creating a warmer climate.
During the summer with the usual humidity in SE England the wines in some instances were cooking on the shelves alongside the staff. Many English building are designed to retain the heat and when a shop is closed up over night with the fridges still running the temperature remains very high.
These temperatures would in many instances spoil the wines and make them unfit for sale, if the customer was aware.
There have been some improvements of late but there is some expensive wine out there in many cellars which is now just glorified vinegar.
David Gibbons, Sydney, Australia
I have long been aware of this, specially as regards the higher end offerings of major high-street chains. At Threshers, Tesco, Sainsbury and elsewhere I regularly see the problem exacerbated by the habit of putting higher end wines on the top shelves often literally only inches away from strip lighting or spotlights that palpably keep the bottles a good handful of degrees warmer than the vin ordinaire on the shelves down at one's ankles. And, to further exacerbate the problem, these top shelf wines clearly have far slower turnover than the rest. On occasion I have asked to be provided with bottles from the store-room rather than the shop shelves, in the hopes that they might not have suffered too much yet. It is indeed lamentable that top fine wines, well out of my price range, might spend months on shelves at near sub-tropical temperatures and in a glare of light, but even bottles in the £10- £20 range should not endure this, indeed, any half-decent wine should not. It is encouraging to notice that small independents seldom ever treat their stocks in this way, yet another good reason for consumers in search of a modicum of quality to start changing habits and shopping around more.
Rob. Ipswich, UK
Pity. Here in the U.S. in our stores, every wine is picked up at the European winery in a refrigerated truck (Hillebrand does all of our transportation), warehoused, shipped across the Atlantic, trucked to a refrigerated warehouse, and brought to our temperature-controlled stores all at 14 degrees (Celsius). And we're half-way around the world! You are one of two things if you're in the "wine business" without end-to-end refrigeration, and incompetent is the kinder of the two.
David Moore, Moore Brothers Wine Company, USA
I would have thought that wine stored at 22 C, especially for very short periods, would have little or no effect on the ultimate quality of wine. Information on ideal storage temperature varies considerably, depending on which particular expert is providing the advice, yet as far as I'm aware there has been no rigorously conducted study assessing the effect of varying temperature on quality.
About the only definitive comment which might be made on storage temperature is that the higher the temperature, the more rapidly will the wine mature. As a rule of thumb, an increase in temperature of 10 C will half the maturation time, whereas a decrease of 10 C will double maturation time, this generality being, of course, without reference to final quality. The accepted wisdom is that wine stored at higher temperatures will inevitably be inferior but, in my experience, this depends on how high the temperature and how robust the wine is. The currently fashionable temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees centigrade should no doubt result in wines achieving their maximum potential, but how long would this take? I suspect that, under such a regime, some First Growth Bordeaux from a great year would not reach their apogee during the life of the owner. My solution, unless the wines are meant for your grandchildren, is to store them at a higher temperature. For about 30 years, I have cellared my wine at around 20 C and have yet to encounter any problems. Of course, I cannot say that a wine so stored will be as good as the same wine stored at 10 C since such a comparison is impossible, the first wine maturing in half the time of the second. But given our limited life span, compromises are usually necessary.
Higher temperatures, up to 30 C, also may not ruin wines, although one would be loath to recommend them. A friend of mind had a cellar which would reach such temperatures in the summer, but his wines, which matured much more quickly than mine, could be sublime. Vintage Port, in particular, being of very sturdy construction, seemed to flourish in such conditions, and fine Bordeaux seemed not to have suffered.
Therefore, perhaps we worry unnecessarily about our cellaring temperatures and minor variations thereof. My suspicion is that wine experiencing 22 C for a few weeks in its youth should really be of no concern for anyone.
Sam Chafe, Melbourne, Australia
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Adam Lechmere
Assuming the turnover is fairly rapid (but sadly, probably in inverse ratio to the price!), especially considering the ambient temperature of an average Bordeaux 'chais', then this may not be disastrous, but keeping them standing upright for any length of time (see your photo) may well be more detrimental.
