Initial Draft re Storage Temps for FAQ

"DaleW" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

I believe that Glamis Castle had constant 5C - Michael P surely knows and may comment on your list. Anders

From the end of:

I don't know what kind of microwave he has, but I got a low powered microwave many years ago at a tag sale, and have found that 8-10 seconds (on high) is just about right. If I put it on for twenty seconds, I'll have wine tea.

Of course it depends on the amount (I presume one glass) and the setting (I use high), but be careful out there! :)

Jose

That article is actually dated 1996, when men were manly, and microwaves were mostly 600-800 watts. :)

I got my microwave before that, and it was a tag sale item at -that- time. :)

Jose

Sorry, no. Delved deep into Michael Broadbent's books recently, but didn't find any indication of the actual temperature of Glamis Castle cellars.

But, as a matter of fact, the priciples of thermodynamics have it that the cellars of Glamis Castle simply cannot be colder than the yearly average temperature of its location.

This gives an average temperature (and the temperature of deep cellars) of 10°C = 50°F for Champagne and also for my location (Vienna).

Don't know about average yearly temperatures in Scotland - which might also be depending on the level above sea - but I would wonder if it was much colder than 8 or 9°C.

Of course, if you delve into such a cellar coming from an outside summer day at 30°C, it feels glacial, and humidity makes it feel even colder.

HTH a little,

M.

Serena Sutcliffe told me she bought some extremely well-preserved pre-WW2 clarets at auction in the 1950s that came from the very cool cellars of the Swedish monopoly.

I don't know where these cellars are located, but they have probably the same temperature as Glamis Castle.

M.

I remember reading somewhere that a visitor to Glamis Castle talked the staff into letting him measure the temperature in the cellar where the wine had been kept. I do not remember if I read this in a book, a magazine, or a newsletter, and unfortunately I do not recall the exact results other than the temperature was quite low. If I can find this information again, I will post it. I also seem to recall that some of the bottles were kept waxed, but that they were not recorked. Of course sealing wax, often used in the past, is all that keeps the cork from falling into some extremely old wines.