Purchasing the Perfect Wine Cellar
By KC Kudra | August 9, 2008
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The term “wine cellar” often conjures up visions of grandeur and luxury. After all, do not the finest European villas pride themselves on their extensive wine cellars? Further more, do not the finest restaurants in the area brag about the elaborate processes for keeping their expensive wines in ideal conditions.
With all of this attention on wine cellars, the typical person might be a bit daunted, and not quite know what to do if he or she is a wine lover looking to invest in a wine cellar. If they are a tad daring, they might take the leap and purchase their own wine cellar for their home.
Many wine lovers, however will not need an extremely, fancy storage system to house their wines. They might not even need a wine cellar at all, because they only keep a carefully selected collection of bottles in small quantities, which they drink regularly. There are, however, wine collectors who stock more than just a few bottles, and they might need a dedicated wine cellar at home in which to keep.
For the wine lover who enjoys stocking many different kinds of wines, or enjoys collecting wine, a dedicated wine cellar may be essential. A wine cellar can be placed in any convenient location within your home.
When setting out by a wine cellar, there are some factors that need to be considered including: size of the wine cellar, humidity, temperature, and vibration. While these are just some of the factors that go into making a safe secure wine cellar design, they are the most important and needs to be taken into consideration at the start of building a wine cellar.
Vibration, light, temperature, and humidity all need to be controlled in order to keep your wine at its best possible level of quality. For instance, if you get too much sunlight or fluorescent light, it can damage the wine. Because of this, most wine cellars are located in a darkened, storage space.
Another enemy of a wine is vibration. If you have too much vibration, it will just rock the sediments in the wine and cause it to change color or taste. This is especially true with the more delicate wines that are more susceptible to both vibration and light.
Humidity also needs to be taken into consideration as having too much of it will cause the wine to mold, and having too little humidity may cause the corks to shrink leading to wines spillage and spoilage. The optimum wine cellar would have humidity for the wine at about 70%.
Temperature is also an important factor, because if the temperature is too high, it will decrease the flavor of the wine and if it is too low, it may cause the wine to freeze.
The easiest way to create a wine cellar in your home is through the purchase of a self-contained wine-cellar unit, which can range in size from 2×3 feet to 10×12 feet, and up. (If you are considering a very, very large wine cellar for your home, it may be less expensive, in some cases, to have it custom built for you.)
Small wine cellars can hold as few as 24 bottles, while the large wine cellars can hold up to 2500 bottles. Prices for the smaller wine cellars can begin at around $500 and go all the way up to $4000 for the large custom-built models.
You will also find that wine cellars come in a variety of exteriors, ranging from super sleek stainless steel to rustic oak or pine. Additions such as interior lights, locking doors, glass panels, and the like will typically add to the price.
If you decide to purchase a wine cellar, you should have a checklist of things prior to getting a wine cellar design finalized including:
- How many bottles you would like to store.
- How much space you have available for your wine cellar.
-What kind of features and controls do you need in terms of lighting, temperature, humidity, and vibration? If you’re planning to collect expensive, delicate or special care wines, you will need to take into account extra features for your wine cellar.
- Is the wine cellar going to be tucked away in a room or placed out in the open? If you’re going to play set out in the open your going to want to invest in higher and finish so that it matches the rest of your house.
In the end, your purchase should be the best balance of features, price, and space. If you know what your wine tastes are prior to purchasing the wine cellar, you will get the best one that meets your current wants and needs with a little room to expand.
Topics: Nutrition |
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