True-- nobody that I know of has done any scientific testing of storing
wine at various temperatures for years. The wine industry says 57
degrees is optimum storage, but that number was chosen pretty much
because that's the average underground temperature in much of France,
where wineries store their wine before release.

Over 70 or 75 for long enough, and wine goes bad faster.

In general chemical reactions go faster at higher temperatures. But
some reactions may speed up more than others, so unfortunately you
can't take a bottle of young Bordeaux, stick it in 130 degree water for
an hour and call it twenty years of aging. On the other hand I once
left an inexpensive Bordeaux in a car for a few hours in the summer,
put it in the fridge to cool it back down, and it was much better than
any of the other 11 bottles of the same wine I had. So you never
know...

I just don't think it makes a lot of sense to spend $2000 to cellar 400
bottles of wine you're going to drink within a couple of years, if you
have a basement that stays below 70 degrees all year. But if it gets
hot where you live, or you want to store some wine for 20 years, you
may not have any other choice.

Shaun Eli
www.BrainChampagne.com
Brain Champagne: Clever Comedy for the Smarter Audience (sm)