Protect your wine

I’m not ashamed to admit that I've ruined perfectly good wine in mere minutes.

In fact, I once ruined a bottle of one of my favourite Okanagan syrahs with a callous attitude of, “It’ll only be in the car for a short time, it’ll be fine.”

It wasn’t. Less than 15 minutes in a hot car with no air conditioning – a 1995 Honda Civic Hatchback, in case you were wondering – and the wine:

• overheated in the bottle
• the cork smelled like a wet paper bag
• it had an unpleasant essence of cabbage soup.

The wine may have been faulty to begin with, but the fault lies with me for not taking better care of the bottle.

When you or your summer visitors are out buying wines — craft beers, ciders, or spirits — plan to protect your purchases from the blazing-hot Okanagan sun.

It only takes a few minutes to damage one of these beverages.

Not many of us properly prepare for wine touring in the heat, thinking we'll just hop in the car, hit a few wineries and head home.

But as you're loading wine into your hot car, keep in mind that your new purchases can be in jeopardy faster than ice cream melts in your gin and tonic.

Wines under screw cap may do a bit better, but wine under a cork will not stand the heat.

A hot car can dry out a cork in record time, ruining characteristics of the vintage inside. The air in the warm bottle expands, causing leakage and exposing the wine to oxygen and oxidization.

If you can, tour at cooler times of the day. Temperature will be lower, and the tasting rooms may be less crowded in the morning or late in the day.

And your palate is fresh in the morning.

An insulated, re-usable shopping bag can protect a few bottles for a short time. The bags, for produce and dairy, are usually found beside regular, cloth shopping bags.

Cool the bag in the fridge or freezer overnight and throw an ice pack in the bottom. Better yet, take a cooler with an ice pack or two to protect your wines from direct sunlight and a rapid rise in temperature.

And finally, if you drop into a winery on the spur of the moment and are totally unprepared, ask the tasting room staff for a box or two. Put your wine in the box with the lid closed.

At the very least, the cardboard will block out the sunlight and keep the temperature a bit lower. The trunk is probably a better spot for storage — it's dark and likely cooler than the passenger area — unless you are running the air conditioning up front.

Failing all that, you can always take your box or bag into each winery for safekeeping, and enjoy your tasting worry free.

Just don’t forget to take your case(s) when you go.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.