# Wine storage



## rugosa (Aug 30, 2011)

I reviewed provisioning threads and there is discussion about what wine - mostly cheap wine and cheap rum. If you're carrying a supply of the good stuff, how do you store it? Are there limits to how much you can carry into foreign ports?


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## tomperanteau (Jun 4, 2009)

We normally just keep out hard liquor in a cool place and in the bottles. I saw one boat that poured all their rum into a 5 gallon gerry can. Took up less space. Thought that was a good idea.


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## jackdale (Dec 1, 2008)

rugosa said:


> I reviewed provisioning threads and there is discussion about what wine - mostly cheap wine and cheap rum. If you're carrying a supply of the good stuff, how do you store it? Are there limits to how much you can carry into foreign ports?


Good stuff may not travel all that well.

There are limits but they tend to vary from country to country.

For example, coming into Canada



> Visitors Duty-Free Allowance for Alcohol
> 
> If you are a a visitor to Canada, you are allowed to bring a small quantity of alcohol (wine, liquor, beer or coolers) into the country without having to pay duty or taxes as long as:
> 
> ...


They do not tend to come aboard and check, but ....


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## sailor50 (Aug 26, 2009)

Obviously you should store wine in a cool place - bilge - sometimes the wet locker - foc'sl - anywhere it can be bubble, towel or styro wrapped that does not interfere with engine heat, steering cables, electrical wires, etc.

Broken glass on a boat sucks!

The most unsettling factor will be the pitch and roll of a sailboat even at anchor!

Remember, wine should be experienced - savored - and shared.

For those special moments don't pack it away so tightly that you can't grab it when warranted!


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## dnf777 (Jun 23, 2007)

I enjoy good wine almost as much as anyone, but I tend to not drink it on the boat very much. Of all the beverages, wine tends to dehydrate me the most, something that can easily sneak up on you on the water. (ie, headache!) Also, most all wines will have varying degrees of sediment, that should normally stick to the dependent portion of the bottle when racked. A boat's motion will keep the sediment in solution, and quite possibly affect the quality of the drink. Many mass produced wines (some excellent) are filtered and don't have this issue. I make a lot of my own, and they don't travel well.

Mostly my personal experience and opinion, FWIW.


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## jackdale (Dec 1, 2008)

Just buy chateau de cardboard. The boxed wines, especially Chilean, are OK. The bladder can be used for floatation. 

You do not have drink the whole thing once it is opened either.


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## Lake Superior Sailor (Aug 23, 2011)

Mad dog 20 20 doubles for pancake syrup!--Dale


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## Lake Superior Sailor (Aug 23, 2011)

Storage? MD 20 20 it comes in a plastic bottle! ..Dale


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## tomperanteau (Jun 4, 2009)

Lake Superior Sailor said:


> Mad dog 20 20 doubles for pancake syrup!--Dale


We NEVER use the good stuff on pancakes! What kind of conasewer are you?


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## Lake Superior Sailor (Aug 23, 2011)

I just never got off on Mrs. Butterworth!..Dale


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## RichH (Jul 10, 2000)

jackdale said:


> Just buy chateau de cardboard. The boxed wines, especially Chilean, are OK. The bladder can be used for floatation.


You really have to be careful with chateau de cardboard ... especially the 'stuff' made from Chinese grape 'concentrate' and force filtered will (sadly) have an expiration date on the box (somewhere) and this date is invalid if the storage space where you keep it goes above ~72°. With the water temperature in S. Florida and all the way down the islands at a toasty 80+, box wine (with expiration dates) doenst have much of a chance of not turning into a vile 'vinegarish' evil fluid ... and much earlier than the expiration date.

Good filtered whites in glass bottles are stable; Reds of course cant be filtered/stabilized and therefore you have to let them 'rest' a few days before opening. 
Some 'boats' have the gall to install small 12vdc 'wine cellars' for storage in the tropics .... quite ostentatious but it really works.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

I have a locker in the galley floor that I've left empty just for this purpose. It will hold about one case of wine on its side. I would just drop a box in there, but the opening is oddly shaped. 

The theory is that the temp will always approximate the water temp. In the shoulder seasons, that would be fine here. However, water temp at the dock will easily get into the high 70s in the summer. I suppose we would only put wine down there that we expected to consumer that season, so it shouldn't be a problem to be over temp and still much better than the 90 degrees it will rise to in the cabin when we're away. Anything over 80 will cook a wine on the spot.

Nevertheless, building the racks hasn't risen above other projects yet, as it doesn't seem perfect. To date, we just buy and drink what we want each weekend.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

I have for lack of better term, found some "tinker toy" style wood wine racks at a kitchen store. so mad the rack to sorta fit in a area below the saloon cabin seat. I can fit 6 bottles or there abouts, with out them moving, breaking etc.

I do agree with some above, glass is a pain in the boat.

marty


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## RobGallagher (Aug 22, 2001)

Actually, I think there are some "better" (depending on your definition of better, I mean better than in the past and very drinkable) wines being sold in a box.

Also, some of the boxes are getting all trendy and funky so consumers won't feel so weird about it.

The bonus is that the bladders don't allow air or light to get to the wine so it lasts much longer after opening.

It's a great solution for boaters.


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## rugosa (Aug 30, 2011)

Sounds like the consensus is sample wines locally, carry a small stash of the good stuff, lay in substantial rum for the long haul. Yup, that works:laugher


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## bljones (Oct 13, 2008)

Quite frankly, if you have any more than a "small stash" of the good stuff, you didn't spend enough on your last refit.


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## SVAuspicious (Oct 31, 2006)

Since the original question included crossing international boundaries I thought I would share my experience. 

I always list alcohol as part of ship's stores labeled "for personal consumption." 

I have a liquor locker with a locking hasp. I've had a couple of customs officers look at it, but no one every asked to seal it.

I have two places to keep padded wine bottles. Neither is great from a wine storage point of view but okay for a few nice bottles for special occasions while cruising. Most of the wine is boxed stuff stowed under settees in the aft cabin with the emergency water.

I've never been charged duty despite having well over the allowable import amounts and declaring everything.

Food is a different matter. I've a number of items seized for incineration. Now I do a better job of using up fresh fruit, veg, and meats before clearing in.


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## flyingwelshman (Aug 5, 2007)

We haven't had to cross any borders yet, but here's what we do for beverages aboard:
First of all I don't like any glass on board, so our wines are in boxes , our spirits are in nalgene or plastic bottles and beer is tinned.

For red wine (which we mostly drink while aboard as refrigeration isn't an issue) we took a neoprene lunch bag similar to this:









and cut at cauterized a hole in one corner.

The bag will hold a 4-litre wine bag easily. We push the spout of the wine bag through the hole we made in the corner and hang the bag from a hand-rail in the cabin. This keeps the wine accessible, easy to pour, and we don't have to deal with the soggy boxes. We call this contraption the 'Wine Tit'. It get's rave reviews when we have guests aboard.

For spirits I got these nalgene water bottles:










I use a green one for scotch, a red one for rum and a blue one for vodka. So far they have worked well: don't leak, don't break. One funny thing was that last year a friend came out with me. He used the same blue bottle for his water. He inadvertently grabbed my vodka and took a swig. Hilarity ensued!

As I said, beer in tins. I usually have Guinness aboard. I can keep it cool easily enough and it tastes better that way. If I'm going on an extended cruise I will have an additional 5-day cooler aboard for meats etc.. Any beer or white wine that needs to be well chilled goes in there.


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## Capt Len (Oct 9, 2011)

I was amazed at the lack of durabilty of beer cans in the bilgadare. Tiny abrasions and bilge pump. Even worse was the loss of tonic water.


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## flyingwelshman (Aug 5, 2007)

Capt Len said:


> I was amazed at the lack of durabilty of beer cans in the bilgadare. Tiny abrasions and bilge pump. Even worse was the loss of tonic water.


You're right about that. I had a Kilkenny explode on me when I put it into an ice-cube-filled cooler. It wasn't on my boat so a bit embarrassing.

I have a 110v/12v/propane cooler that I hold my beer in. It's plugged in for shore power. When underway or away from the dock I just let it stay cool and keep those things that don't need to be refrigerated (butter, juice, Guinness etc.) in it. Knock wood, but I haven't lost one yet....


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## killarney_sailor (May 4, 2006)

*What kind of cruising?*



rugosa said:


> Sounds like the consensus is sample wines locally, carry a small stash of the good stuff, lay in substantial rum for the long haul. Yup, that works:laugher


You were not clear about your potential cruising routes so it is hard to be specific. For extended cruising you stock up where you can. If you are going to the Bahamas this means in the US, if you are going into the Pacific, Panama is wonderful.

US - most people have a sense of the prices so won't go into it; Bahamas and Caribbean are much (or much, much) more expensive.

Caribbean - you can generally get rum cheap in most places, duty-free is sometimes available; French Islands (Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Marten) have a wonderful selection of wine although it depends to be mainly better quality wines with an emphasis on heavier reds (Bordeauxs etc) and you won't see a Merlot anywhere; actually the shopping in St Marten is on the Dutch side since it is duty free and the French side isn't

Panama - we bought Chilean box wines for $2/l and they were drinkable and seemed not to change over many months (or perhaps our taste buds 'evolved'). Good rum was about $8/l

Papeete - only place in South Pacific with decent wine selection and reasonable (not cheap) prices; quite like French parts of Caribbean but a bit more pricey

Australia - excellent wine selection and prices as long as you stick to Aussie wines; beer is expensive, liqour is really expensive - rum is close to $50/l, even for the local stuff.

Anywhere else we went, we did not buy, either because of selection or price (often both)

When entering (~20) countries we were often asked for quantities of beer/wine/liquor and we had quite a bit but it was always accepted as 'ship stores' so never a problem. Conclusion, buy where you can and stock up. If you want to buy good wine, try a few bottles and see how they last - blige would be best since at least the temperature is constant.


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## aeventyr60 (Jun 29, 2011)

We bought Spanish table wine in the Philippines for 2$ a litre. Just finished our last box. Luckily the duty free port of Langkawi is just 70 miles away. Beer there is 8$ a case, good Gin/Vodka/Rum for 7$ a litre, so we will be stocking up...big time for our next 6 months in Thailand. 
We visited the town of Tequila in Mexico. Bought a 10 litre wooden keg of Reposado Tequila, that's 100% Agave, kinda like a single malt. Sipped that stuff all the way across the Pacific. Sundowners were never so good after that keg ran dry...


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## Capt Len (Oct 9, 2011)

A good selection of affordable wines and beers are now available in in Phuket, Krabi and Trang. Try the Tesco Lotus .


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