Wine shop shelving and corks not staying moist

This question was sparked by KirbyB's recent post regarding the display shelf in his Eurocave. My apologies if this has been covered here before.
Wine shops around my location - even the good ones, invariable have many/most wines stored standing up. Now, this may be fine for those wines that move quickly (Yellowtail, for example). But for finer wines that don't move as fast because of higher price tags this can't be a good thing. Does anyone else have an opinion on this? If so, did you approach your retailer about it? Anything positive happen?

This question was sparked by KirbyB's recent post regarding the display shelf in his Eurocave. My apologies if this has been covered here before.
Wine shops around my location - even the good ones, invariable have many/most wines stored standing up. Now, this may be fine for those wines that move quickly (Yellowtail, for example). But for finer wines that don't move as fast because of higher price tags this can't be a good thing. Does anyone else have an opinion on this? If so, did you approach your retailer about it? Anything positive happen?

Yes, I've seen that, too, and my usual response is to find other retailers who treat their wines with greater care. IMO, if a retailer is cavalier enough with their inventory to store them upright, they're also unlikely to control interior temperature, light exposure and storage conditions, which are probably more egregious problems than upright storage.

Mark Lipton

A wine would have to move very slowly for upright storage to be a problem. How long does it take for a cork to dry out? 10, 15 years?

Its not a problem.

I would say this is not a problem as it takes such a very long time for damage. I would be much more concerned about temperature and light.
Walt

I would say this is not a problem as it takes such a very long time for damage. I would be much more concerned about temperature and light.
Walt

Agree.

A while back I bought a Magnum of 1997 Cullen Chardonnay. It was up on a high shelf standing vertically. I don't know how hot it had got, or how long it had been there, but I do remember being vaguely concerned about how close it was to a spotlight. These days I'd definitely baulk at buying wine stored like that.

The wine itself was superb (and like others who've posted on another thread, I believe wine to be much more robust than we give it credit for).

I'll still be cautious, but I'm happy to be over-cautious rather than potentially reckless.

regards

Ian

Jon, in my area of Northern New Jersey, all of the better shops store their wine on their sides, except for a selection of screwcaps.

That's generally the rule in NYC.

I find that shops that stand their bottles up also tend to have warmer temps and more intense lighting.

The wine itself was superb (and like others who've posted on another thread, I believe wine to be much more robust than we give it credit for).

Ian

In my very limited experience I tend to think there is something to the opinion that many of you hold that wine is not as fragile as we think. My most favorite Viognier-an Opolo 2004 came from a wine shop that is not careful about maintaining cool temperatures in the summer (I live in TX).

So, my local supermarket, Kroger, which trys to compete with the World Market right next store, who keeps it's wines upright, but at a nice cool temperature always get my business.