Are you among those people who not only love savouring the taste of wine, but also love to collect them? If you are an avid collector of wine then we are sure there will come a point when your small wine rack will not be sufficient to store all the bottles. If your collection is getting larger and larger and now the small wine cabinet that has limited racks on it is not sufficient enough o store the magnificent collection you possess, then you need to think about getting a wine cellar for you.
If you are wondering what a wine cellar is then here is a basic description of a wine cellar. A wine cellar is a small storage area which can be used to store many bottles as well as wine barrels. Most preferable location ot build a wine cellar is underground as this gives a suitable environment for the wine to get better with age and helps it from getting spoiled due to temperature fluctuation, such kind of wine cellars are generally referred to as passive cellars. Usually a wine cellar has a climate control system which will keep the humidity and the temperature of the storage area to the required values and these kinds of wine cellars are known as active wine cellars and can be built anywhere.. If you are storing up to 500 bottles than the wine cellar is known as a wine closet and if you have built your wine storage area above the ground it is no longer termed as a wine cellar, but is more accurately termed as a wine room. There are very large wine cellars found in the world which are as old as 3700 years.
What purpose does a wine cellar serves? These wine cellars are mainly built to protect and safe your wine or any other kind of alcoholic beverages from the harmful environmental factors which potentially degrade the quality of your wine. The main factors which can damage your wine are high temperature, fluctuating temperature, too much light and low humidity such factors can cause the wine to damage faster and hence the main focus is to provide an environment that is suitable to store wine bottles. A wine cellar serves a purpose of providing the darkness, constant temperature and accurate humidity which will help the wine to age properly. The main benefit from storing the wine in a cellar is that not only will the wine not get spoiled, but its taste and aroma will also get better with time.
There are many factors which you have to keep in mind while designing a wine cellar. The most important is the temperature. Wine can be stored properly in a temperature range of 7 to 18 degree Celsius temperature. Choose a place for your cellar that is free from vibrations. As already mentioned above an underground cellar is best to store wine as the change of temperature due to seasonal change is less prominent under the ground. In France wine cellars are mainly underground caves where the temperature is normally 13 degree Celsius and it remains constant throughout the year which is the basic requirement for proper aging of the wine. Temperature above 18 degree Celsius can result in fast maturing of the wine and will give it a taste which resembles the taste of vinegar.
If you want to built a wine cellar in a tropical region then it is advisable that it should be built deep to ensure the right temperature for the wine storage. Sometimes it becomes very impractical to build a cellar so deep inside the ground and hence cooling techniques are employed. The method of cooling also required an insulation technique so that the temperature remains constant. The advantage of employing a cooling and insulation technique is that it will make it possible for you to construct the cellar above the ground and any kind of fluctuations in temperature will be removed. The passive cellars are cheaper to build and maintain as there is no requirement of electricity, but the only disadvantage is that they are prone to temperature fluctuations and hence it can tamper with the quality of the wine. One should build a wine cellar according to the climatic conditions and geographical location.
Now coming to the basic point, is a wine cellar necessary for you or you can manage by using wine racks or cabinets. The answer is if you have a huge collection which you need to protect for years then go for a wine cellar. Storing many wine bottles in different cabinets will be costly and it will be hard to manage. Remember a wine cellar is not a hole dig in the ground, and hence special care must be taken while you are designing it. Consider all the above mentioned factors and then design a cellar for yourself.
