Easy Guide to Food And Drinks

August 9, 2011

Characteristics Of A Good Wine Cellar

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , , — CakeAuthor @ 3:19 pm

A wine cellar is a storage area for wine in casks or bottles and it is typically situated underground. In an effective wine cellar it is necessary to provide a favorable environment to ensure that the wine kept there remains in a fresh condition even following several years cellaring. Consequently the actual temperature and humidity of the cellar must be managed at levels that will permit the wine to mature gradually as well as develop complexity.

Whenever a cellar is created above ground level, it could better be defined as a wine room and if it holds fewer than five hundred bottles and is above ground, it may be defined as a wine closet. The primary purpose of creating a wine cellar is always to shield the wine from environmental conditions that may compromise the standard of the wine. Things such as light, hot temperature as well as low humidity can all affect the wine in an undesirable way. Wine is a natural product that must be shielded from fluctuating temperatures, heat and light as well as vibrations. With proper storage, wine doesn’t just maintain its liveliness but in addition increases the standard of its aroma, complexity and flavor.

For that reason, a quality wine cellar should not simply maintain the vibrancy of the wine it should also improve it. The suitable temperature for a wine cellar must range between 13 to 18 degrees C and it ought to be free of vibration. If the temperatures change throughout the year, it should vary by less than 10 degrees C. For hundreds of years, the winemakers of France have stored their wine in subterranean caves at these temperatures and that is how people gauge the level of temperature for storing wine. To make certain that the final product has characteristics of a nicely aged wine, temperatures should not be above 18 degrees C as the wines will mature too rapidly. Wines that age too rapidly usually taste similar to vinegar and not possess the sophisticated and pleasurable taste of a great wine.

Passive or active describes the cooling system used in the wine cellar. A wine cellar having an active cooling system needs insulation and a vapor barrier installed. A specific wine cooling unit is then positioned in the wall to make sure that the humidity and temperature are managed at the correct levels. A majority of above ground wine cellars must have a cooling unit to maintain a consistent temperature. Geographic areas that are naturally very cool are often suited to a passively cooled wine cellar. Most subterranean cellars are passively cooled and sometimes a well-built and fully insulated basement cellar may be passively cooled. A passive wine cellar needs no electricity to be effective. Consequently they are more affordable to construct and operate albeit there are times when they can become unreliable in extreme temperatures.

April 12, 2010

Choosing A Wine Cellar Kit

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , , , — CakeAuthor @ 4:23 pm

Many people like the idea of building a wine cellar most of us fear that the entire task would be too difficult, costly and not worth the effort. If you, too, thought this then banish these thoughts from your mind because it is in fact quite easy to build a wine cellar and you can do so on a limited budget in the available free space in your home. In fact, if you go looking for options that will help you in building a wine cellar you will be pleased to learn that there are also many different kinds of kits that don’t cost much and which will help you in building a wine cellar for a very affordable cost.

Reasonable Price

Most kits that you find on the market today can be bought for an affordable price and which can be of different sizes and types to ensure that when it comes to building a wine cellar you will find your task a lot simpler than you ever expected. You can in fact choose to go about building a wine cellar in the form of rectangle shaped bins, or choose places for storing entire cases of wines and even use available space to create triangular wine storage shelves.

The best part about storing wine and building a wine cellar with the help of these kits is that the kits will not prove to be at all difficult to assemble and there is also no need to have any prior experience in construction to complete your wine cellar. And, of course each kit has its accompanying manuals and these will provide step-by-step wine cellar instructions that will guide you in building a wine cellar without facing any hassles along the way.

The price of a kit will vary depending on the type of materials included, the size of the kit and the quality of materials used. The bottom line when building a wine cellar from this type of kit is that you will get a most cost effective solution that is far cheaper than constructing a custom built cellar and certainly far cheaper than most other options.

When you have finished building your wine cellar you can turn your attention to how best you can manage your wine cellar. One option open to you in this regard is to make use of wine cellar software. It doesn’t matter if you only store a few bottles of your favorite wine to have with dinner or you have thousands of bottles stored in your wine cellar; proper cellar management will ensure you get the greatest benefit out of your wine and your cellar.

July 10, 2009

Build Your Own Wine Cellar

Filed under: Wine Spirits — Tags: , , , , , — CakeAuthor @ 11:20 am

Building your own wine cellar is the best way to age your wine collection. A wine cellar must be designed to store wine in the right conditions as it ages, ensuring that the wine does not spoil and that it develops complexity.

Building your own wine cellar from the ground up - or more likely, the basement up - may seem like an overwhelming task, but the proverbial first step is usually the most difficult. It usually starts with collecting the first bottle and eventually finding that your collection has grown to a point that you cannot store it without a cellar.

The cost of a well-constructed wine cellar can run to many thousands of dollars but so can a large capacity refrigerated wine cabinet, so you may find that a custom-built home wine cellar can be the most economical and cost effective way of storing your wine.

There are several items to consider before you begin building your wine cellar.

Temperature should be a chief consideration and also the amount of natural light. Ensure the room is well insulated – extruded polystyrene insulation is ideal. If you reside in a mild climate it may be possible for you to create a passive cellar that requires no cooling system.

A wine cellar is generally constructed with thicker walls. Two-by-six construction provides space for quality insulation, allowing the cellar to remain at a constant temperature. In an active wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system.

Temperature swings can quickly destroy your wine collection. Small temperature fluctuations from summer to winter will not damage the wine but those same fluctuations on a daily or weekly basis will cause your wine to age prematurely. Temperature should be maintained between 45 and 60 degrees F, and avoid direct sunlight. Thus, you can often successfully create a wine cellar in a closet and a humidity level between 50% and 80% is ideal for all types of wine.

When storing wine all vibration should be avoided; it agitates the bottles and speeds up the chemical reactions taking place inside the bottle – and not in a desirable way.

Vibration can become a major issue during transportation and is the reason most shippers recommend allowing your wine to rest after extended travel. This is important, too, when you buy wine at a cellar door or even from your local wine retailer. Never take it home and pull the cork out without allowing it to rest. In fact, all wine should be immediately placed in your cellar.

Remember that it is not just your wine collection which is valuable; the wine cellar itself will increase the value to your home. So the better-constructed and larger your cellar, the more the value of your house goes up as well.

Unless you live in a very cold climate a wine cellar is generally a lower temperature environment compared with its surrounding living spaces and therefore must be treated differently in relation to those spaces. If the temperature in your wine cellar suggests that it requires cooling do not attempt to cool it by using a domestic air conditioning unit. Home air conditioning will remove the humidity from the air and will quickly destroy your wines by causing the corks to dry out. Several popular brands of wine cellar cooling units are available that will cool any sized wine cellar. Your wine cellar will become one of the most important areas in your home and will make a personal statement about you. It is the space for you to indulge your passion for wine collecting and where you will display your latest acquisitions. Discover how to build your own home wine cellar and, if you have the space, why not consider incorporating a bar and tasting area.

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