My wife and I have
been what I would call “wine enthusiasts” for several
years. Our tastes are in the 1st growths of Bordeaux and the Trockenbeerenausleses
of Germany, the Super Tuscans and the top California and Aussie
Cabs etc. Unfortunately however, our budget is mostly in the Eastern
Bloc and Chilean section of the wine store. Despite the fact that
we aren’t able to afford the kind of wine that benefits most
from laying down, we decided to build a cellar several years ago
when we built our home, in the hope that cellaring would improve
the wine we could afford, as “every little bit helps!”
The cellar is entirely passive. It is constructed in the NE corner
of our concrete basement. It is quite small, about 7 1/2 ‘ by
10’. The N and E walls are concrete basement walls and the
other two are 2” by 4” wood framed / drywall, insulated
with fiberglass batting. The doorway is in the south wall right
in the W corner. The walls are stucco coated. The floor is 1 -1/2 “by
6”tongue and groove cedar, obtained from a friend whose brand
new cedar house was destroyed by a tornado. It is laid over the
concrete floor of the basement on carpet pad to give some resilience.
The ceiling is finished in old barnwood, for it’s character.
In the belief that heat rises rather than falls, the ceiling is
uninsulated. The room is not heated. As barely seen in one photo,
the lighting is sort of track-style, with 3 bulbs on the long rack
and two on the short end, aimed at the racking. Each bank has it’s
own dimmer control, which helps set the mood!! The opposite wall
from the long rack is white textured stucco, and as I am a blacksmith
and tinsmith there is a small wrought iron wine rack and some bright
tin candle sconces which add a bit to the ambiance. I couldn’t
find a place to stand to take a photo of that side. IMHO, it is
attractive to look at, and though perhaps aesthetics should be
secondary to function in wine cellaring, I like my cellar to be
a pleasant place to spend time as well. ( OK, so you have to ignore
the clutter!) So far, I am most pleased with the arrangement, and
despite it’s less than ideal storage vs. space ratio, my little
cellar will hold much more wine than I can afford anyway!
The racking is the interesting part. Though it is not space efficient,
( I could probably double my available storage with conventional
racking) I chose to use clay weeping tiles for storage. Because
I couldn’t afford temperature/humidity equipment, I wanted
something that would keep the wine at a very stable temperature.
The tiles perform that task very well. Because of the cellar location
in the NE corner of the basement, it stays cool throughout the
year, averaging
55F in the winter months rising very slowly to about 60F in summer. This should
be about the ideal temperature range for storage of wine, but it is cool for
humans. Therefore when I want to spend time in the cellar, I can take in a
small heater, and warm up the air temperature to a reasonable comfort level,
but the thermal mass of the tile racking keeps the wine temperature stable
for a long, long time. Also because of the cellar’s location in a concrete
basement and the mass of the tiles, vibrations are minimal to say the least,
and the wines completely enclosed in the tiles, remain in the dark, even if
I should accidentally leave the light on. The original plan called for the
tiles to be placed in the wide bins, each holding 60 bottles. The smaller areas
were to have shelves to house wine books, splits, and odd sized/shaped bottles
that wouldn’t fit into a clay tile. However as time passed, it became
apparent that I needed more racking. Back to the tile store for more, which
ended up being longer than the original ones, as is seen in the photos. The
dividers and top shelf are just 2X10 planks, and there is a 2X2” board
along floor in the front of the racks that the front of the tiles sit on, thus
providing a slope that ensures that the bottles remain in place, but allowing
the corks to remain wet.
The last thing to mention is the passive air-to-air fresh air
exchange, which unfortunately is not shown in the photos. It is
shared with the cold room next door, and consists of two 3” black
PVC pipes that are connected to the outside air, (actually the
air in the unheated attached garage. ) Cool, heavy air from the
garage enters one pipe and is carried to cellar floor level by
a vertical drop-pipe which exhausts at the floor, and the warm,
lighter air at the ceiling is carried out by the other pipe which
is at the ceiling. It sets up a convection current which, while
being minimal in terms of cubic feet/minute, nevertheless keeps
the air in the room fresh and aids in keeping the temperature more
constant I believe. The humidity stays in the 45 - 60 percent range,
and strangely enough is higher in winter, even with the central
heating on in the rest of the house. This is due to the air exchange.
Though some “experts” recommend higher humidity, this
system doesn’t result in the musty mildewy conditions that
sometime occur if one keeps the air too damp. By the way, this
cellar is located in the midst of the southern Canadian prairies,
where summer temperatures can reach 100 degrees F (believe it or
not!) and -40 F in winter.
Anyway that’s our cellar. I hope those who take the time to read this
and look at our photos might get an idea or two, as I certainly have from seeing
the other cellars featured on this wonderful site.
taken right at the doorway and is of the N. and E walls (racks). Just out of
site on the right is the ventilation system referred to. Bottom right is
a small round table and a couple chairs.
also from the doorway, but centered mainly on the N wall. The
black shadow on the left is the antique icebox in photo #4
the W. end of the N. wall, also from the doorway.
the W. wall/icebox etc.
Note: You never know when you might need a blacksmith and we found
that Mike has a site showing his blacksmith skills at at http://www.flatlanderforge.com
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