A Wine Cellar

[rdcross]

Wine and port collection is growing, and I've been researching building a wine cellar in the basement. Does anybody have one? Where did you buy your storage racks? Did you have it designed, or just put it together from the available options? Seems like the better racking prices are around $2 per bottle. So racking for 1,000 bottles will run about $2,000.

How critical is humidity and temperature for wine? I know 55 degrees is reccomended, along with 70-ish percent humidity...Does it hurt the wine if it's say 60 degrees and 50% humidity?

Also, I'm on the fence between a full-blown cellar, with a small tasting table, etc... and a large fridge like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Keeper-5...QQcmdZViewItem

What do you guys think?

[Mindflux]

Originally Posted by rdcross

Wine and port collection is growing, and I've been researching building a wine cellar in the basement. Does anybody have one? Where did you buy your storage racks? Did you have it designed, or just put it together from the available options? Seems like the better racking prices are around $2 per bottle. So racking for 1,000 bottles will run about $2,000.

How critical is humidity and temperature for wine? I know 55 degrees is reccomended, along with 70-ish percent humidity...Does it hurt the wine if it's say 60 degrees and 50% humidity?

Also, I'm on the fence between a full-blown cellar, with a small tasting table, etc... and a large fridge like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Keeper-5...QQcmdZViewItem

What do you guys think?

I don't think that wine cares about humidity (or any beverage in a non permeable media). Temp is of course important..

[SeanGAR]

Humidity is critical to ensure the corks don't dry out.

I am planning to put a small walk in with an ajacent humidor in my basement when I get around to doing the renovations. Although I love the idea of the tasting table, it isn't relevant to our lifestyle and I don't want to take up that much space. I'm thinking of the terra cotta racks but I honestly haven't checked prices much yet.

Good luck .... thats a fun project.

[ncohafmuta]

Originally Posted by Mindflux

I don't think that wine cares about humidity (or any beverage in a non permeable media). Temp is of course important..

Humidity and temp are definately critical.

10-13 deg. C (or around 55F). 60-70% humidity. No light. No vibrations. Store on its side.

-Tony