What to Look For In the Perfect Wine Cellar
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 focus on wine cellars, it can be a bit daunting to the average person, but a true wine lover can envision the importance of a personal wine cellars and consider the purchase of a home wine cellar.
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 purchasing a wine cellar, there are certain factors you must consider, among them: size, light, vibration, humidity, and temperature. Size refers to how large the wine cellar will be, and to how many bottles of wine it can hold. This may be related to the amount of space you have available for your wine cellar, as well.
Light, vibration, temperature, and humidity controls are necessary to maintain your wine in its highest quality state. Too much light (especially sunlight or fluorescent light) is thought to damage wines. Your wine cellar should offer a darkened storage space.
Vibration is another enemy of wine: too much vibration will disrupt the sediments in wine, causing it to change color or taste. The more delicate the wine, the more susceptible it will be to 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.
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.
There is a variety of exteriors when it comes to wine cellar designs. They can range from super-sleek, stainless steel to rustic oak or pine with additions such as interior lights, glass panels, locking doors, and the like. All of this adds to your price, so you need to take that into consideration when looking at wine cellar designs.
When deciding to purchase a wine cellar, you should first determine a few things.
-How many bottles of wine do you wish to store at any given time.
- How much space you have available for your wine cellar.
- How much sensitivity you need in terms of controlling for light, temperature, humidity, and vibration. Again, if you are planning to purchase very expensive wines, you will need controls that are more sophisticated.
-Will the wine cellar be tucked away in a room or out in the open as part of your overall decor?
Ultimately, the purchase of the perfect wine cellar comes down to the best balance of features for the price and space. Know your wine drinking habits, and purchase the best wine cellar you can afford which meets your current needs, and gives you a little room to expand.
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