What Is Cellar Temperature?

What is celler temperature? Well it depends: are you active or passive? If you're active, screw you for having so much awesome wine and the means to protect its delicate nuances. If you're passive, you're some kind of old-school vintner and we'd like to interview you in your secret wine cave. If your wine cellar is a rack in your basement, we have some advice. Generally speaking, however, there is a certain temperature range you'll want to keep your wines at in order to age them properly.

An acceptable cellar temperature falls between 45 and 65°F, with the magic "this is the temperature of caves in France" number right at 55°F. Whether you achieve this passively in some sort of cave (unfinished basements work nicely — far from the boiler) or actively with a climate-controlled 2,000 square foot multi-room actual wine cellar, jerk, keeping your investment bottles from significant fluctuations in temperature will keep their contents in top shape for years to come.

More Whatchamacallit on Food Republic: