How Environmental Temperature and Humidity Affect Wine Quality
While the outdoor climate affects how slowly or quickly grapes mature on the vine and their characteristics, indoor environmental temperature and humidity also affect the quality of your batch of wine. If the finished product is not stored properly, its aging process will not proceed in the ideal fashion. For this reason, we explain how each of these things influences the final results of your winemaking efforts in the following facts.
How Temperature Affects Wine Quality
The temperature of your wine storage area is crucial to ensure that the wine ages in the appropriate manner. An ideal average range is from 11-degrees C up to 14-degrees C. However, certain wines may need special temperatures, so be certain you know which temperature is right for your particular wine batch. If the temperatures dip too low, the wine aging slows down and it could even freeze. When the temperature goes too high, though, the wine could age too fast to form its intended flavour and other characteristics. Remember, chemical reactions within in the wine are what ages wine and these reactions should not be rushed or slowed down. Also, once you set the temperature at the right setting for your wine, it should never fluctuate but stay consistent.
How Humidity Influences Wine Quality
High humidity can destroy your labeling and packaging efforts, which can be costly to repair or replace. A more important way that humidity affects your wine quality, though, is that low humidity causes the corks to dry out and shrink in the bottles. This causes gaps where oxygen can seep into the wine and this compromises the flavour and other characteristic due to over oxidation. The preferred humidity setting on average for wine storage is 75 percent with the acceptable range being from 55 percent up to 85 percent.
Ultraviolet Light Is Another Environmental Factor That Impacts the Quality of Your Wine
Another environmental factor that influence the wine quality is exposure to ultraviolet or UV light. This is one reason that winemakers prefer dark bottles to clear ones. Also, the lights should be off in the storage area whenever possible. UV exposure negatively alters the flavour, structure and aroma of your wine since this type of light degrades the organic compounds in the wine.
For additional facts about how environmental temperature, humidity and UV light affect wine quality, consult with Grapeworks Consumables. We supply beverage makers with a wide assortment of winemaking, brewing and cider supplies, machinery, equipment and consumables. Our company helps you create batches of your favourite beverages in such a way that they are a delight to drink.