What to know about saving fine wines

Wine isn’t the first thing most people think about when floodwater enters their home. Still, those who collect the good stuff might be wondering how it keeps after a power outage, or if it can be damaged after bottles are submerged in floodwaters. Here’s what to know:

Wine generally is fine after being submerged in water. “You’re always reading about old wines recovered from shipwrecks that are surprisingly drinkable,” Spec’s fine-wine buyer Bear Dalton said. “It’s really no big deal.”

Still, if submerged, bottles need to be tended with a good sanitizing, moldkilling wipe-down, then laid back down horizontally to prevent the corks from drying out. Don’t use bleach or any other harsh cleaning product, particularly if you’ve chosen to cut off the foil cap to reassure yourself the cork didn’t get wet. Dalton suggested cleaning with “cheap, plastic-bottle vodka.”

If you lost power and keep wine in a temperaturecontrolled fridge or cellar, those bottles you hope to age need to be returned to sub-60 degree temperatures as soon as possible. “Keeping your fine wines at room temperature for a few weeks isn’t ideal,” Dalton said, “but it’s not going to be a huge hit in terms of longterm drinkability as long as the temperature stayed below 80 degrees and was fairly stable.”

Those who didn’t have their wines stored properly need to understand two things.“The wines probably aren’t going to age as well as they ideally would have,” Dalton said, “but they are probably going to age better than you think they are.”

Wines exposed to temperatures above 85 degrees for any length of time most likely got heat damage,