When it comes to wine cellars, the term often conjures up visions of a luxury mansion of great luxury and grandeur. After or most wine cellars reside in some of the finest villas in Europe, and are very extensive. Some of the finer restaurants can brag about their elaborate wine cellars and the processes that they go through to keep their expensive wines in tip-top condition.
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.
First of all, what is not usually said about wine cellars is that you do not need a lot of fancy storage systems or combination wine cellar humidor in order to keep your wines in top-notch shape. Most wine lovers focus on carefully selected bottles and keep them in small quantities to drink on a regular basis. For this to sort of wine lover, an at-home wine cellar may be unnecessary.
For those who feel a wine cellar is necessary, there are some things that need to be taken into consideration when setting out to come up with a convenient wine cellar design. These factors include: light, humidity, vibration, size, and temperature and when it comes to larger collectors, size.
You are talking how large the wine cellars going to be and how many bottles of wine when it comes to some wine collectors. The number of bottles it can hold is directly related to the amount of space that is available for your wine cellar in your home.
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.
Vibration can also damage the wine by disrupting the sediments, which will cause a change in color or taste with most delicate wine selections. They are known to be especially susceptible to vibration and light damage.
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%.
Finally, temperature is another important factor, as temperatures that are not ideal will decrease the flavor of the wine, and temperatures too low may cause the wine to freeze.
Self-contained wide cellar units are the easiest way to create a wine cellar in your home. They can range in size from 2 x 3 feet to 10 x 12 feet and sometimes even bigger. However, if you are considering a wine cellar design that is extremely large, it may be less expensive to have it custom-built for you.
Wine cellars come in varying prices small models starting at around $500 and with the more customized models running upwards of around $4000. Some of them hold as few was 24 bottles all the way up to 2500 bottles.
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:
- Number or bottles that should like to store.
- Space available for your wine cellar.
- How much control you need in terms of light, temperature humidity and vibration. If you are planning on housing expensive wines, you are going to want to invest in more sophisticated controls.
-Will the wine cellar be tucked away in a room or out in the open as part of your overall decor?
When it comes to purchasing the perfect wine cellar, it comes down to balancing the features versus price and space, you want to take in account your own personal drinking habits and purchase the best wine cellar you can afford. It should have all the features you want to fit your current needs with a little extra room to expand and upgrade.