Appreciating a fine wine isn’t a pastime for just vintners and sommeliers. Vinos can be temperamental, leading many homeowners to consider the litany of ways of keeping them at their best for as long as possible.
That is where a home wine cellar or a wine room comes into play. They are an investment, but so is that wine collection. Plus, there is a potential increase in home value to think of. You don’t need a newly built property to incorporate a wine cellar either. There are plenty of ways to repurpose existing space with some ingenuity.
Here are a few home wine cellar ideas to get your aged, fermented grape juices flowing.
Benefits of Having a Home Wine Cellar
Stunning statement piece aside, custom wine cellars hold several practical purposes. Namely, they help preserve your wine, whether it’s a highly curated collection of early 20th-century varietals or your local favorites.
Preserving Wine Quality
A cellar can be paramount to maintaining a wine’s freshness. Although lauded for their staying ability, wines can (and do) go bad if not kept in a dark and cool environment. Home wine cellars can help through temperature control that keeps the room at 55 degrees alongside humidity controls that keep the humidity levels in a safe zone.
Enhancing Home Aesthetics
Curating your collection with a beautiful wine cellar, particularly if it’s not tucked away in a basement, is one way to enhance the aesthetic of your home. You can tailor the space to suit your place from custom cellar doors to unique rack layouts.
Investment and Value Addition
According to Fixr, the investment range for the addition of a wine cellar is quite large — from $15,000 to $60,000. Yet, keep in mind, that this value add could increase your home’s worth up to 31%.
Planning Your Home Wine Cellar
This is where, as a homeowner, you get to have fun. Imagine what your dream home wine cellar would look like. Is it a light and airy area in the front hall of your home or a rustic underground cellar?
Choosing the Location
As you begin, you must choose a sensible location for the cellar. Perhaps a spot in your home that is underutilized or an area you want to stand out. Location may also depend on whether you’re an avid collector with bottles to show off or not.
Understanding the Wine Storage Conditions
If you have a basement, underground wine cellars are often considered best because they tend to stay cooler. However, a cellar can be above ground too, so long as it is away from excess vibration and light. Also consider what area will stay coolest in case of a power outage — after all, you don’t want spoilage.
Estimating Storage Capacity
Knowing how much wine you want to store is incredibly important in the planning process. You can store many bottles in a smaller cellar, though you won’t have as much room to display them all. For reference, a five-by-five room with nine-foot ceilings can hold approximately 500 bottles, per Wine Guardian.
Essential Components of a Home Wine Cellar
Designing a home wine cellar may sound simple, but there are a lot of components to it, which is what can make it a bigger project. You have to consider lighting, a vapor barrier, cellar doors, the storage system, flooring, and whether to include a cooling system.
Design Styles for Home Wine Cellars
Ideally, your wine cellar design style should mesh with your home’s overall aesthetic. By embracing one of the three main cellar types and making it your own, you can seamlessly craft a storage solution that works with your space rather than against it — here’s some inspiration:
Traditional
Not to be confused with rustic cellars, a traditional wine cellar includes some of the same elements. However, rather than a stone-hewn feel, the wood and rock styling in these spaces is more elevated with touches of luxury. You may see details like arched doorways or dark color schemes.
Modern
A modern wine cellar design encapsulates lots of ideas. Some are minimalistic with sleek metal flourishes and neutral tones while others incorporate unique lighting designs to modernize the space, which could easily fit near a dining room or kitchen. Often this style is defined by the modern look of elements such as light, color, and metal.
Rustic
A rustic wine cellar is probably going to most closely resemble a French une cave à vins — a wine cave. Think of lots of exposed stone, brickwork, or natural wood features. Rustic cellars can be made just as inviting as modern ones with warm lighting and antique accessories.
Customizing Your Wine Cellar
Aside from the logistical elements you need for a wine cellar, customizations add personal touches. For example, you could brighten the room with splashes of color or set the tone with accent furniture.
Incorporating Tasting Areas
Cultivate a homey space to entertain loved ones. Bring in seating and a table and incorporate artwork to make your tasting area. This way, you can sample your vino in comfort without leaving the serenity of your cellar.
Utilizing Decorative Elements
Even if your wines are not demurely displayed throughout the cellar, there are myriad ways to decorate the space. Aside from art, utilize accent lighting or aesthetically pleasing walls or floors to add character to the cellar.
Integrating Smart Technology
Wine cellars have been around for millennia, yet they continue to advance. Keep track of your wines through the CellarTracker app or change the mood with smart LED lights. Monitoring your storage has also never been easier thanks to The Elertus Wine Protection System which alerts your phone for things like movement and temperature or humidity changes.
Adding a Wine Cellar Door
As for your cellar doors, you could always customize them to fit your space — and all doors made by Clark Hall are custom-made. By incorporating double glass doors or any other wine cellar doors with glass, you can show off your collection while still keeping the bottles cool and comfortable. For instance, the wine cellar iron door from Clark Hall frames the collection in full view through stylish glass panels.
Clark Hall Wine Cellar Customizations
There is a lot to consider in creating a wine cellar. You can increase your home value and protect your beloved wines at the same time. As far as your gorgeous cellar entrance is concerned though, our professional designers are always available to lend a hand. Contact us with all of your wine cellar door needs and together we can make your storage dreams a reality.
FAQs
How much does it cost to build a home wine cellar?
It depends on the size and elements involved. However, a general estimate is between $15,000 and $60,000.
What are the ideal conditions for wine storage?
Wine is temperamental, so you want to store it in a dark, cool, and humidity-controlled space. The average ideal temperature for wine storage is 55 degrees with the humidity sitting right around 70%.
Can I build a wine cellar in a small space?
Absolutely! Even a tiny five-by-five room with a nine-foot ceiling is considered large enough to hold up to 500 bottles of wine. You’d be surprised how much you can do with a small wine cellar.
How do I maintain my wine cellar?
Ventilation and cleaning are both important elements of an ideal wine cellar environment. Ventilation to prevent mold and mildew, which can affect your wine and cleaning to keep debris out of the area.