The Penfolds “Crying Room”: A lesson in protecting fine wine

For anyone building a wine collection, choosing the bottle is only the beginning. How that wine is stored over the years that follow can have just as much influence on what eventually ends up in the glass.

Few stories illustrate this better than the so-called “Crying Room” at the Penfolds Re-Corking Clinics.

What is the Penfolds Re-Corking Clinic?

Penfolds has been running its Re-Corking Clinics since 1991, giving collectors the opportunity to have qualifying older Penfolds red wines professionally assessed by its winemaking team.

Where required, wines can be opened, assessed, topped up, re-corked, re-capsuled and certified. More than 250,000 bottles have been assessed through the program across four continents.

But not every bottle brought to a clinic has survived the years as its owner hoped.

The “Crying Room”

In 2014, The Age reported on the Penfolds Re-Corking Clinic and an area collectors jokingly referred to as the “Crying Room”, where owners could receive the unfortunate news that a prized bottle had deteriorated beyond its expected condition.

It became a memorable reminder that even exceptional wine can be compromised if it has not been stored correctly.

What happens when wine is stored poorly?

Wine is continually evolving inside the bottle. For that evolution to happen slowly and predictably, its environment needs to remain remarkably stable.

Large temperature fluctuations, excessive light, inadequate humidity, poor airflow and ongoing vibration can all interfere with the long-term maturation of wine.

The effects may not be immediately obvious. A bottle can sit untouched for years before the consequences of its storage conditions are discovered.

For collectors, that can mean more than the loss of a valuable bottle. Often these wines have been kept for a particular birthday, anniversary or celebration, or carefully collected with the intention of drinking them many years into the future.

Proper cellaring is ultimately about giving that wine the best opportunity to be enjoyed as the winemaker intended.

The five conditions wine needs for long-term storage

A purpose-built wine storage environment should manage five key conditions:

1. A stable, low temperature
Temperature stability is one of the most important factors in long-term wine storage. Significant heat and repeated fluctuations can accelerate the ageing process and compromise the wine.

2. Appropriate humidity
Humidity is particularly important for wines under cork. Maintaining sufficient humidity helps prevent corks from drying and losing their seal.

3. Protection from UV light
Exposure to light, particularly ultraviolet light, can negatively affect wine over time. Long-term storage should therefore minimise UV exposure.

4. Minimal vibration
Wine benefits from being left undisturbed while it matures. A properly designed storage environment should minimise ongoing vibration.

5. Clean, circulating air
Appropriate ventilation and air circulation help create a clean environment around the bottles and reduce the risk of unwanted odours.

These are the same principles that underpin the design of EuroCave wine cabinets, which are engineered specifically to reproduce the environmental conditions of a traditional wine cellar.

Protecting the bottles you are saving for later

Not every collection contains rare bottles of Grange, nor does it need to.

A bottle you bought on a memorable trip, a case from a favourite producer, or a wine you are keeping for a milestone can be just as important to its owner.

The lesson from the “Crying Room” is simple: buying wine for the future means thinking about how you will protect it in the meantime.

EuroCave has specialised in wine storage since 1976, designing wine cabinets to provide the controlled conditions required for wine to mature over the long term.

Because when the time finally comes to open a bottle you have been saving for years, the most important thing is that the wine inside has been given every opportunity to reach its potential.

Find the right wine storage solution

Whether you are starting a collection, replacing an existing wine fridge or planning storage for a larger cellar, our wine storage specialists can help you find the right solution for your collection and your home.

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