Starting a wine cellar isn’t complicated, but once you decide to stash 20 or 30 bottles of wine, a key decision is where it should go.
The worst location is where it is 70 degrees F or more. Wine is fragile and, like beer, must be kept cool to retain freshness and perhaps even improve in the bottle. Cooler is better.
My first wine cellar was underneath my house. Terra cotta drainage tiles were embedded in the earth, each holding a bottle. The system maintained cool temperatures. Four decades later, some bottles remain in good shape.
Subsequent investments in storage proved worthwhile, a fact well known by wine-collecting friends. But you need not spend much or anything to do it right—until the space is no longer large enough!
Most homes and apartments have small spaces that can be cleared out where bottles can be protected from light and kept cool, such as an under-stair cubby, beneath a bed, or in a closet with a solid door.
If there’s no room for a rack, just clear a flat spot on the floor and stack bottles atop one another. As long as cork-sealed bottles are on their sides, they'll be fine.
There are two exceptions. Sparkling and screwcapped wines are best stored standing up. The reasons are complicated, but that’s the way I’ve done it for years; it works great.
As wine collections grow, the next decision is what to do next. To determine whether to expand the space, assess how long it was before you began to stash wine. If it was more than a year, you’re likely in no rush to buy an expensive refrigerated unit. If the space you’re using is large and cool enough, all you need is a few more racks. But if it was only a few weeks and the space is already bulging, you may need to find a larger location.
Decades ago, a friend used an old “closet” that once housed his water heater. He added insulation and a small air conditioner, which became a cellar housing 200 bottles. When it began filling up, he began drinking wines he knew might not be perfect for additional aging.
Determining how much space to allocate for wine depends on how diligent you are in terms of consuming them. I suggest drinking rosés, whites, and lighter reds before heavier reds.
One exception is fine chardonnays that are young. Some may improve with a year or two in the bottle. I prefer reds with less than 14 percent alcohol. Wines with 15 percent alcohol or more are usually questionable in terms of aging.
The best temperature at which to serve almost all wines is around 60 degrees F to 68 degrees F. I often decant wines for 15 to 30 minutes before consuming; aeration usually helps young wines, including those sealed with a screwcap.
As for wine cabinets, many are made to protect fragile older wines from deterioration. But for wines that should be consumed sooner, these units are too expensive because they do not improve most of those wines.
