Cellar Fundamentals

Buying good wine and not storing it properly is like making a gourmet meal and letting the food go bad. Taking care now can reap rewards later. A cellar can be anything from a space in the basement, a hallway closet or a dedicated room on your main floor - not just the dusty French château cave-like cellar with cobwebs and candlelight conjured up in most people's minds. Having your own collection of reds, whites and bubblies that gets better with age requires proper preparation from the get-go, so whether you're building it yourself or hiring pros to handle the design, here's what you need to know about crafting the consummate cellar.

Location

Choosing the site is the most critical decision in the building process. While basements have always been a natural choice because they're dark and more isolated, main-floor cellars are gaining popularity for the display aspect. "Wine cellars don't have to be built into the basement only, anymore," says Billy Carpenter of Vin de Garde Cellar Systems in Vancouver. "They can be anywhere you like, as long as the envelope - the room - for the wine cellar is built correctly." Avoid situating any cellar near high-traffic areas and movement such as stairs, a laundry room or home theatre, as any vibrations will massage and prematurely age the wines. Keep away from exterior walls and windows to minimize fluctuations in heat and light.

Size

Cellar size is often determined by a necessity to maximize capacity in the smallest amount of space. "Most people err on the side of caution when they build a cellar but they have to keep in mind it's a fixed envelope, they can't expand it," says Tony Aspler, former Toronto Star wine columnist and author of Tony Aspler's Cellar Book.

His general rule of thumb for size is to determine how many bottles you want to store, then doubling that figure for total capacity. The key is to build in potential for growth as you expand your wine collection.

While cellar sizes are largely dependant on the purpose of the cellar, the average size for a basement cellar is around six by eight feet, which typically holds about 1,000 bottles, says Arnel Marchand, owner of Koolspace, a cellar construction and management service in Calgary.

Insulation

Building a wine cellar is essentially like building a walk-in fridge, says Carpenter. It must be a sealed space with a vapour barrier, and requires a high amount of insulation in the walls. While most insulation shrinks over time, effective options are mineral-fibre batt, fibreglass or rigid insulation. Carpenter recommends spray foam as the best insulation because it expands and adds another layer of vapour protection. In humid climates, fibreglass insulation tends to settle and may create air pockets.

Doors and Floors

Although mainly a closed system, the cellar inevitably needs to be accessed. Heat is mostly lost at the point of access, around the base of the door. Aspler recommends choosing a solid door that's at least one and three-quarter inches thick. The material can range from wood, aluminum and steel to frameless glass doors.

Design in a gasket so the door is sealed and add a mechanical closure to keep it secure, says Carpenter.

When it comes to flooring, cork is effective because it can cushion a dropped bottle but, ideally, harder surfaces like hardwood are best.

Temperature

An aggressive climate-control system is the control centre that primarily heats and cools, humidifies and dehumidifies. The ideal temperature for storing wine is 12˚ C to 13˚ C but going above or below that standard is okay to some degree, but only if the change is gradual. Any spikes or drops in temperature will accelerate evaporation and can damage the wine, says Aspler. The cooling unit should also be closer to the ceiling or near the middle of the wall to maintain good airflow in the space.

Humidity

The best humidity level for storing wine is approximately 70 percent. Dropping below 60 percent, you run the risk of drying out your corks and at more than 80 percent, there's a good chance mould will form. There are two types of cooling units - air-cooled systems and water-cooled systems, says Marchand. A water-cooled unit can dissipate heat through the drain line rather than blowing air out, like in an air-cooled unit. Marchand recommends the water-based Onam cooling unit because it is highly energy-efficient and compact enough to be visually unobtrusive.

Light

There's a reason why the common stereotype of a cellar is a damp, dark cave - it's because light has an adverse effect on wine. Aspler says the heat given off from lighting used in the cellar can break down molecules and age the wine. "You want very little light, enough to see the label and that's it," he adds.

Go for low-wattage bulbs, avoid fluorescent lighting or, even better, choose LEDs or fibre-optics because they don't generate heat. If it's an above-ground cellar with a glass wall, Carpenter says to either coat the glass or opt for exterior-grade glass, which usually has a UV-repellant coating.

Racking and Storage

When it comes to the shelving and racking units in the cellar, it's important to choose the system with the most flexibility. California redwood is the most commonly used wood and slot depths can range from nine to 13 inches.
"There are new shapes and lengths of bottles, so the racking needs to be able to accommodate oversized formats like magnums or three-litre bottles," says Marchand.

Custom systems range from lattice-frame racking to diamond-shaped openings, and newer styles have slots where the bottleneck is inserted into a hole so labels can be featured.

Carpenter says the neck-out shelving style where bottles are laid down (to keep the cork wet) give the greatest capacity. "You can also minimize the material in between bottles and use something like steel or aluminum, which is more design-oriented but just as sturdy."