The Wine Bottle

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.

Affordable Price

Most kits currently available today can be purchased at a reasonable price and kits are available in 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 anticipated. You can in fact choose to start 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 or diamond-shpaed wine bins.

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 with building a wine cellar with these kits is that you will get a most cost effective solution that is far cheaper than any other option and certainly far cheaper than custom wine cellars.

And, once you are done with building a wine cellar you can then start thinking about how best you can manage your wine cellar. One option open to you in this regard is to make use of wine cellar software. Regardless of the fact that you only store a few bottles of your favorite wine or you have thousands and thousands of wine bottles stored in your wine cellar; proper management will help you get the most out of your wine and your wine cellar.

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 starts when you collect your first bottle of wine and soon you’ll find that your collection has grown so large that it requires its own wine cellar.

A well-constructed wine cellar can cost many thousands of dollars but so can a large refrigerated wine cabinet so often a custom built wine cellar at home 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 must be a major consideration and also limiting the amount of natural light. Make sure the room is well insulated – extruded polystyrene insulation is ideal. If you live in a mild climate you may be able to build a passive wine cellar that requires no cooling system.

A wine cellar will usually have 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, major factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a cooling system.

Temperature swings of more than a few degrees a day can destroy your wine collection. Small temperature fluctuations from season to season will not damage the wine but those same temperature fluctuations on a daily or even 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.

Vibration should always be avoided when storing wine; it agitates the bottle and speeds up the chemical processes taking place inside the bottle – and not in a good 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, whenever you buy wine at a winery cellar door or even from your local wine outlet. Never take the wine home and plan on drinking it without allowing it to rest. In fact, all your wines should be put immediately into your cellar.

Note that it is not just your wine which is valuable; the cellar itself will improve the value of your home. So, the bigger and better 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 removes the humidity from the air and will fast destroy your wine by drying out the corks. There are many brands of wine cellar cooling units available to cool any size wine cellar. Your wine cellar is a personal statement, and will become one of the most important areas in your home. It is the place where you can indulge your passion for fine wine and where you can display your precious acquisitions to friends and family. Discover how to build your own home wine cellar and, if you have the space, why not consider incorporating a bar and tasting area.