Category: wine

There are certain conditions that must be met when an individual is building a wine cellar. Wines can go rotten just like any other type of food, and if proper storage measures are not taken the wine has the opportunity to go bad before the individuals have a chance to drink it. There are many individuals who will bring home a bottle of wine and put it in a wine rack that sits in the kitchen or living area. While the rack looks pretty and decorative, it is not an ideal place for the wine to be stored. The temperature in these areas varies from hour to hour and there is often direct sunlight that comes in which will affect the wine. Unless a person’s home or kitchen are kept at very cold temperatures, such as fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit, the wine would be better off in the refrigerator than on the wine rack.

Choices

When building a wine cellar, there are certain choices that a person has to make. The first choice is where to build the wine cellar in the home. The room that is used should either be in a basement where there is not any direct sunlight or it should be in a closet of the home where there is a north-facing wall so that the temperature is not as likely to fluctuate due to the sunlight on the wall. Wherever the wine cellar will be built, the temperature must be kept at about fifty five degrees Fahrenheit at all times, only fluctuating a few degrees on either side of that at any given time. This means that if a closet is used, it will have to be insulated and cooled so that the air from the rest of the home does not influence its temperature.

Another choice to be made when building a wine cellar is to choose a space that will be able to fit the appropriately sized wine cellar rack, depending on the needs of the individual. The rack is an important feature of the wine cellar since it holds the bottles between a horizontal and forty-five degree angle. This helps to ensure that air does not come between the wine and the cork so that it is less likely for outside air to come through. There should also be the proper amount of humidity in the wine cellar, another consideration when building it. The humidity should be around sixty to seventy percent so that the cork does not dry out or become moldy when stored.

There are many different styles of wine cellar design, but each one has to maintain certain factors relevant to wine storage, otherwise the wine in the cellar will go bad. There are some people who go through the trouble of building an actual wine cellar, whereas others will convert a closet in the home into a wine cellar to maintain proper wine storage conditions. Many individuals do not know the proper storage conditions for wines and there wine does not end up tasting as good as it could if stored properly. Wine cellar design can be a fun process, setting up a basement or other area to hold racks of wine for a proper storage area.

Conditions

One of the most important conditions in wine cellar design, whether it is made in the basement or the closet, is the temperature. The temperature in wine cellar design should not vary more than five degrees on either side of fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit. The warmer the room is, the faster the wine will age, which is why it is not good to have the wine bottle sitting on the counter in the kitchen for a couple of days where it gets warmer than other rooms in the home and the wine goes bad. If using a closet in the home for the wine cellar design, one should be chosen on the north side of the home so that the sun shining on the wall of the home does not cause the temperature to fluctuate as readily.

Another important consideration is light. In wine cellar design, there should never be sunlight in the room with the wine since it can cause damage to the quality of the wine. Even though the wine is bottled in dark containers, the sunlight can still cause damage to the wine inside. There should also be a sixty to seventy percent humidity level factored into the wine cellar design. Humidity is important because it helps to keep the cork in good condition, which in turn keeps out the harmful air. If the air is too dry, the cork can crack and let in air. If the air is too moist, the cork can mold or rot, which also lets air into the wine. The ventilation is also important in wine cellar design, since there is always some amount of air which will seep through the cork and any smells in the wine cellar can cause the wine to taste poorly.