One of the more expensive, delicate—and yet popular—items for shipping great distances is wine. Because of the specific environmental and temperature factors that wine grapes require to mature to an acceptable level of quality, this often means that the wine itself must travel great distances to retail outlets or even individuals ordering wine online. However, wine faces many perils when traveling, especially when it comes to shipping wine in winter, which brings its own unique risks and hazards for this product.
Temperature Variations Are Bad
Wine is a particularly delicate beverage when it comes to temperature. If wine gets too warm and is exposed to sustained heat, it will lose its acidity and fruit flavor characteristics. If wine gets too cold, there are multiple risks, such as the bottle breaking if frozen wine expands and oxidization, which dulls its fruity flavor while sharpening the alcohol bite.
Because certain times of the year get cold, there’s a real risk when shipping wine in winter that the product will be exposed for too long to extreme temperature changes, which can impact the final quality. This is why it’s crucial for successful wine businesses to prioritize protecting their investment and ensuring minimal changes to the recommended storage temperature when shipping wine in winter.
Keep Variations Minimal
In general, it’s a good rule of thumb never to let temperature fluctuations surrounding wine exceed ten degrees. It’s also important that any fluctuations don’t occur for too long. Part of this has to do with the cork that is used to seal wine bottles. If the cork is exposed to sustained, large temperature fluctuations, this can cause it to expand and then contract, which then lets air into the bottle and begins the oxidizing process that negatively impacts the flavor of the wine.
To prevent these kinds of damaging temperature fluctuations, it’s not enough to protect the wine in appropriate shipping containers. The most crucial periods of vulnerability can occur when the cargo is taken out of an environmentally maintained shipping container and awaits transfer to another vehicle. Sometimes, these waits can take hours or even more than a day. It’s here that good insulation provides a form of passive protection that keeps temperature changes to only a few degrees, and even then, that fluctuation occurs very slowly.
If you’re shipping wine in winter and want to know the best way to get those products to their destination safely, we can help. Contact us to explain your shipping needs and obtain a quote.
