Collecting Q&A: Why Are My Wines' Labels Falling Off?

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Peter D. Meltzer
Posted: June 21, 2007

Q: I have a 50-bottle wine fridge that cost about $500. I have noticed that after about four months of use some labels on my wine started to just fall off the bottle completely and some seemed to sort of shrink. What do you think could be happening? Is there any risk to my actual wine or just to my memory to try to figure out which bottle is which with no labels? --Shane Hamby

A: Without knowing the specifics of your wine fridge, it's hard to come up with an unequivocal answer. But odds are that the humidity level is too high (above 75 percent), which accounts for the labels falling off the bottles. This will not harm your wine, but watch out for mold forming on the remaining labels. Interestingly, some wineries intentionally store their wine at high humidity levels, and only place labels on the bottles when they are about to be shipped.

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