Wine cellar

If you are a connoisseur and like to save good wine for more than a few weeks, you need a wine cellar that will create conditions suitable for the proper ageing and conservation of your prized bottles. The type of wine cellar you build will depend on available space, budget and quantity of wine you wish store.
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The wine cellar structure
The characteristics
Other considerations
Storing units types
Storage tips
Management advice

The wine cellar structure

You can build your wine cellar with stone or brick, in a remote closet or in a far corner of a room. Yous can also buy apartment cellars.

For those who have some free space in the basement, the area reserved for the wine cellar, walls and floor, must be perfectly airtight. Preferably, the walls are of stone or masonry and the packed earth floor is covered with gravel.

For those with limited space, place a thermometer and a hydrometer in different rooms of the house for 24 hours to determine the ideal location for the apartment cellar. All that will remain is to insulate the room according to the instructions described in the following.

Some specially designed armoires or cupboards with a built-in cooler keeps the temperature constant, between 10 to 12 degrees.Remember that the apartment wine cellar is the only cellar you can move with you. So, choose it with long-term consumption habits in mind.

The characteristics

Building a good wine cellar requires the proper blending and successful marriage of a number of determining, not to say unavoidable, factors. Among those factors: ventilation, temperature, humidity and darkness.
  • Ventilation
    Aeration assures air replacement without air currents. Good ventilation ensures an environment that is free of potentially taste-altering mould and rot.

  • Temperature
    Temperature must be constant because wine reacts badly to sudden, abrupt changes in temperature. Ideally, it should be maintained around 8 and 15 degrees Celsius. At less than 8 degrees wine ages very slowly, while at more than 15 degrees, it ages too rapidly and may be altered.

    Temperature stability is as important if not more important than the temperature itself. Be sure to know where hot water pipes are located and insulate them if there is any possibility they may raise the temperature. Avoid placing your cellar near a radiator or electric heating baseboard, because of the heat they produce.

  • Humidity
    Lack of humidity can cause cork stoppers to dry up and wine oxidation, while excess humidity could cause wine cartons, labels and even stoppers to rot. However, humidity will not affect the bottles or the ageing process, unless wine is being stored in wood barrels. Ideally, humidity should be kept between 60% and 80%. If the humidity level is less, keep a water filled container on the floor. In case of excess humidity, use a portable dehumidifier.

  • Darkness
    Wine, especially white wine, doesn't tolerate light very well. The ideal wine cellar, therefore, is one that is dark, free of any source of light, even from the door. Fluorescent tubes are especially bad as they can alter the quality of wine. Avoid glass doors and choose solid doors. Plan on painting the inside of your wine cellar with dark paint. Be careful of cellars with integrated lighting. Lights can sometimes be left on inadvertently.

Other considerations

Odours and vibrations can, in each their own fashion, alter that taste of wine.
  • Odours
    Avoid storing wine bottles near fruits and vegetables or even chemicals. Since wine breathes, odours can penetrate through the cork. For that reason, avoid storing wine in cardboard boxes. They resist badly to humidity. Because rotting causes bad odours, cardboard should only be used on a temporary basis. And do not keep bottles in tissue paper.

  • Vibrations
    Calmness, it is said, is a wine's best friend. Vibrations, on the other hand, may well be one of its worse enemies. They keep young wine from ageing well and can damaga old wine. So, beware of vibrations caused by trains, subway cars, household appliances and heavy traffic or any kind. So avoid placing you cellar near a clothes washer or a water heater, as they cause vibrations. Also, avoid moving wine.
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