The flooding in Brisbane, will wine storage be affected?

I would reckon many wine collectors have their wine stocks locked away in storage facilities. If these places are flooded how is it going to affect the wine stocks? Being under six foot of water must be disasterous surely?

I remember reading in one of my old wine books (Warner Allen, I think) about the Liège floods (river Meuse) sometime in the 20s. Numerous wine cellars were flooded; apparently the wine did not suffer from the bottles' immersion in cold water but the they lost their labels, so that afterwards the less organised did not know precisely what they were opening. I guess that eventual spoilage depends on how long before the water starts infiltrating through the corks.

I know of a number of Brisbanians on the boards here who have their wine in professional storage in the CBD. From what I heard from a few, there's been some water damage to their wine which will not affect the contents of the bottle, however, power was lost for some considerable time, I believe, so there probably was no temperature control for a period of day(s).

Really sad images, lots of people with lots of pain.

As to wine (a minor detail of course, but this is a wine board), what were temperatures like? Losing power for a few days in mid70s is no big deal in my opinion, but is at 90+. And if cellars were flooded, what was water temp? 80 degree F water temp is WAY worst that 80F air.

Really sad images, lots of people with lots of pain.

As to wine (a minor detail of course, but this is a wine board), what were temperatures like? Losing power for a few days in mid70s is no big deal in my opinion, but is at 90+. And if cellars were flooded, what was water temp? 80 degree F water temp is WAY worst that 80F air.

She's bloody hot up there in Brisbane this time of year, Dale. 30C has been the average for the last 72 hours. Have no idea of water temperature, just hoping the power's back on asap.

Really sad images, lots of people with lots of pain.

As to wine (a minor detail of course, but this is a wine board), what were temperatures like? Losing power for a few days in mid70s is no big deal in my opinion, but is at 90+. And if cellars were flooded, what was water temp? 80 degree F water temp is WAY worst that 80F air.

She's bloody hot up there in Brisbane this time of year, Dale. 30C has been the average for the last 72 hours. Have no idea of water temperature, just hoping the power's back on asap.

Presumably water temperature is likely to be close to an average between day and night air temperatures. I guess that would be about 25°C if maxima are 30+. Too warm.

Hi everyone, greetings from Brisbane.

We're in Sherwood but weren't affected as we are slightly up a hill, but we only have to walk 400m to get to houses that were affected. On Friday we helped an older couple who are at the very bottom of Sherwood and they lost everything - water came almost to their cieling. A couple at our Church live in Chelmer. They have 6 kids. Lost everything. There will be 20,000 stories just like this, just in Brisbane, without even looking west into the Lockyer Valley or further west onto the Darling Downs.

We cant get into our office building in the city, the three basement floors flooded as did the ground level foyer. Structural and health inspections are required before the building will be accessible.

There are three wine storages I know of in Brisbane. Kennards (at Milton near the city) was definitely affected by both water and power cuts. If you get to see images of Suncorp Stadium, Kennards is right next door. I know of people who have wine there. It sounds like flooding affected some lockers but not others depending on where they were in the building. No news from the other Kennards at Bowen Hills or from Wineaway, although I expect they will both have been affected by power cuts at least.

I'd be hopeful that the Kennards Milton wines are drinkable, albeit not subject to ideal conditions over the last few days!

cheers

Andrew

Andrew, glad you're ok, sorry for your friends and neighbors who have suffered so greatly.

30°C isn't good, but if that's outside temp, a few days of no power in an insulated room that started at 12° might not be too bad, the thermal mass of the bottles helping. All depends on how long, how tightly packed, etc. But if 25° (78°F) water got in, that would raise the temps almost immediately. A few years ago, I bought some wines with label damage at firesale (oops, floodsale) from Zachys. But that was after a creek overflowed in Mamaroneck in March from snow melt- no heat issues. I do recall post-Katrina some damaged bottles being offered, mostly on wine commune or fringe auction sites. Flood damage from very warm water is VERY different.

[Jenise]

Andrew, just echoing Dale's words of thanks for your safety and sorrow for the plight of your brethren there in Brisbane.