Sometimes people ask me which of my wines ("Which do you think is better, the '95 or the '96 Zinfandel") I like the best. As a winemaker, and particularly because I am a winemaker in a tiny winery, this is very much like asking me which of my children I like most, Lea or Jesse.
It is not lost on me that I carry this concern for my wines throughout their "lives", much as I still caution my children to be careful at tasks they have long since mastered. When someone picks up a case at my winery and we place it in the trunk of their automobile, the lecture is automatically cued: "Don't leave this in here too long and if you have to stop on the way home, park in the shade.
But then I am the kind of person who, if going shopping for wine and the day is hot, brings along an ice chest with a top that closes tight and a few ice cubes in a plastic bag to keep the contents from heating up.
I do not have any data about how hot it can get in the trunk of a car parked in the sun on a warm day, but we both know it can melt the heck out of a Hershey bar, don't we! Wine literally cooks in that level of heat and if tasted later, has a dead, red liquid but not wine, flavor.
I recently visited a friend's new home and he mentioned that he thought some of the wine he had purchased from me was going bad. After I removed the knife from my heart, we took a look and saw that he had a fine, out-of-the-way-storage place for the wine…on top of his refrigerator! I was amazed that any of my creations had survived the heat and vibration there.
Heat is the enemy of fine wine. Keep it cool and alive.
About the Author
Paul Kreider, who made his first wine in 1975, is the owner and winemaker of the Ross Valley Winery in San Anselmo, California. Since 1987, with notable success, his small Marin County bonded winery has specialized in transforming modest lots of unique grapes into vineyard-designated wines, each with its own individual character and particular personality. Check our website at www.rossvalleywinery.com.
