Starting a wine cellar

bacchus · French wines lover Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 2

'morning, i've been collecting wines for several years now, and i'm eager to have a wine cellar. Do you have any advice about starting one?

Pierre · French wines lover Joined: Jan 09, 2006 Posts: 11

Starting a wine cellar is usually done in order to have a proper storage for wine, and therefore control the aging process.
Your wines need to be ideally stored in a cool places, where temperature doesn't vary, and without vibrations (so better not live above the underground... Wink

, so the sediment process can do its job. They should lay flat in a rack (but never keep them in a paperboard box) and in a dark place to avoid light that can create premature aging.
If you store the wine in your basement, and can control both temperature and humidity, try to keep wine in a 70 -75 % humidity ,and around 10 to 13 degres. If it's too dry, the risk of cork drying will increase. If it's too humid, the risk of moisture can alter labels or corks. To avoid moisture you can wrap bottles in a plastic film.
You can also buy a wine cabinet, Those are of different size containing from 12 to 600 bottles, You can esily keep one inside your house or flat as it will keep your wine in optimal wine cellar conditions.

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