Wine Cellar Room
Basement Design Ideas
A wine cellar room is a great idea for a basement makeover. A residential wine cellar takes planning. Apart from the decorative feel of your wine cellar, you need to keep your prized wine collection protected from temperature fluctations, humidity and breakage.
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Picture from Gardner Fox |
A wine cellar is one of the many basement design ideas featured on this website and you will find some basement remodeling pictures on this page for inspiration.
Wine cellar room decor
You can just have a practical space for storage or a showpiece designed for entertaining and sampling wine in comfort. Do you want to display your wine collection like an art collection? Consider decorating your space with wine-related art and objects. It is fairly easy to obtain wine-related posters. One idea is to collect your wine corks in the wooden boxes wine often comes in.
 Residential wine cellar storage
If your basement temperature is constant and acceptable (see below), modular storage can be assembled in a customized way or a carpenter can create storage. It can be decorative to keep wines in their original wooden cases - if wine is an investment for you, you will want to keep the original packaging.
Simple wooden or metal storage racks will keep bottles ventilated and separated. You might also need storage for glasses, bottle openers, wine chillers.
Storage tips:
Wines are best stored on their side with the wine in contact with the cork to keep it wet. If the cork dries out, it will shrink and let air get to the wine. Air is the biggest threat to wine as it will convert it to vinegar. Also store your wine bottles with the label up. This helps you to see what the wine is without disturbing the bottle to see what it is. Storing wine with the label upwards also means that the sediment that forms in a good wine will lie on the other side to the label allowing you to see how thick it is when you are ready to open the bottle. You can then decide whether to decant the wine or serve it directly from the bottle. Thirdly, the label will be more protected facing up, and if your wine is an investment, a damaged label will reduce its value.
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Champagnes and sparkling wines can be stored upright. The carbon dioxide that is naturally produced in the wine will create a protective layer in the bottle neck. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and will protect the wine from air exposure.
Temperature
Temperature is the most important consideration in a basement makeover for a wine cellar room. The best temperature for wine storage is between 12 and 16 degrees C (53-61 degrees F), allowing wine to age properly, however, any temperature between 5 and 18 degrees celsius (40-65 degrees F) is sufficient, as long as it stays constant. Higher temperatures will age wine faster and cooler temperatures will slow ageing.A steady temperature of 21 degrees C (70 F) is better than a temperature that starts at 6 degrees and rises to 18 degrees and back each day. Don't take constant temperature too far though, as keeping wines at over 28 degrees C (82 F) for as little as a month will do irreversible damage.
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Photo by Kairos Photography |
The degree and speed of temperature change is crucial. A gradual change of a few degrees between hot and cool weather won't be a problem, however, the same change every day will age your wines more rapidly and make them deteriorate. The key is to avoid big temperature fluctuations. Damage due to temperature change becomes obvious if you see a sticky deposit around the capsule. Over time, the repeated contraction and expansion of the wine will damage the cork, allowing air to seep in. Once air is in contact with your wine, oxidization begins - an irreversible process that ruins wine.
White wines are far more affected by temperature than reds.
Basements and cellars are usually cooler than the rest of the house, so you may not need temperature control. You can test this by monitoring daily temperature at a number of points in the day, and also comparing temperatures from warm to cool days. If you need to invest in controlled cooling, commercial refrigeration is not ideal due to its low humidity. If your budget will accommodate, invest in temperature controlled wine cabinets instead.
Humidity
In addition to temperature, humidity is another danger for wine. A natural cork is compressed and forced into the bottle to provide a good seal. Cork naturally tries to expand and pushes against the glass bottle to form the seal. The air between the bottom of the cork and the wine (known as the ullage), increases over time because cork is not a perfect sealing material. It will let in some air and absorb some wine too. Low humidity together with a defective cork causes the wine to move out of the bottle and air to move in. This will happen faster with lower the humidity and a poorer cork. Then it is only a matter of time before your wine is vinegar.
Medium humidity keeps the cork in good condition and stops it shrinking. Relative humidity of 50-80 per cent is good - 70% is ideal. If you are considering refrigeration, be aware that a typical commercial refrigeration or air cooling system is set to run at about 20% humidity. This can cause the cork to dry out, lose its elasticity and let air into the bottle. An easy way to increase humidity in a confined space is to leave out a bucket of water - humidity will rise as the water evaporates. Too much humidity is not so harmful to wine, but it will damage labels and cardboard boxes - not a problem if your wine is purely for your own enjoyment, but it is for investment purposes, you will want to maintain the presentation of the bottles.
Light
If your basement has windows, be aware that light prematurely ages wine. Transparent bottles are most at risk, but ultraviolet light will even get through the darkest glass. Light can damage the tannins in wine, which contribute to a wine's flavor, aroma and structure. Sparkling wines are particularly sensitive to light. Fluorescent lighting emits substantial amounts of ultraviolet light. Sodium vapor or incandescent lights are preferable to fluorscent lighting in a wine cellar room. The bottom line is to keep your wine storage as dark as you can.
Source: The Gurdies Winery, Victoria, Australia
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