Hi everybody!

My wife and I bought a house that has a small wine cellar (woo!). It is not temperature controlled but in the basement and very well insulated, so it should stay between 60 and 65 degrees, which is certainly better than the rest of the house.

I've already moved all my wine not in a temperature-controlled unit into the cellar -- that's the easy part. But I've got about 48 bottles in temperature controlled units (probably at ~55 degrees) that I want to keep in those units going forward/until drunk. Of course, I won't want to transport them in those units and will need to defrost the units before moving them.

Which option is best for the wine?

- Remove the wine from the units and transfer them to the new cellar temporarily until the units are moved and in-place to put them back into.
- Remove the wine from the units and try to fit them in my refrigerator temporarily until the units are moved and in-place to put them back into.

This all centers on the question of whether or not it matters if cold wine warms up a bit and then cools down again.

Separately, I have heard two schools of thought on storing champagne/sparkling wine -- better upright or on its side? (Some say it's bad for the bubbles to store on the side, while others say the cork should remain moist.

Any thoughts would be appreciated! Thanks!

I'd do this option:

- Remove the wine from the units and transfer them to the new cellar temporarily until the units are moved and in-place to put them back into.

otolith wrote:I'd do this option:

- Remove the wine from the units and transfer them to the new cellar temporarily until the units are moved and in-place to put them back into.

I agree. Some ups and downs are OK, if they are slow and not too abrupt. This seems the best approach to achieve this.

I'm with the gentleman above me. Fridge would be too drastic of a temperature change. Congrats on the new house! As for the bubbles, Joy from Iron Horse said either way. She's smarter than me when it comes to bubbles so ill go with her suggestion.

Thanks to all who provided feedback. I suspect I will end up going with the unit to cellar to unit method. Hopefully none of the wine will be damaged through the transfer. Another reason I hate moving -- but hopefully buying a house will keep us put for a while!