wine storage

[funinthesun]

thinking of using a dark, cobbled floor end of house that is currently used as a storage room ( its a barn so 2 foot thick stone walls, and no windows in that part) for putting a few wooden wine racks in there with a few dozen bottles...

im not convinced that this is actaully a viable storage environment - someone suggested as long as we store screwtop bottles should be ok....but that somewhat restricts what you can keep.

have had a look around it seems that it should be dark ( yes) , and a constant temp ( no extreams but will definitely vary with the seasons) and a reasonably constant humidity ( no chance) ...

not planning on storing any great vintags, just the proceeds of the odd day trip to last a year or so,..

so any advice would be appreciated...

[GilbertGrape]

What would Macgyver do?

[funinthesun]

GilbertGrape said:

What would Macgyver do?

probably have a beer---( opened with a hair clip or such like)

[N1CK]

"Dont lay it down, it'll get lonley, drink it now!!"

couldnt find the world of wine sketch so this will have to do http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0VnRdow_7fs

[HiRich]

Broadly in order of importance, a cellar should be:
- Always above about 5C (prevents crystals forming in white wines), and obviously frost free.
- Dark
- Constant temperature over both the day, then the year. Temperature variation will kill a wine. A wine stored at a stable but incorrect temperature may mature faster or differently, but it will still mature. Anything more than 2C in the day is becoming a concern, 10C in the year would be worrying.
- Around 55F (anywhere within 50-60F is a good range, beyond that is still OK as long as it's stable)
- Stable (no vibrations). Also accessible, so you aren't disturbing everything everytime you go looking for a bottle.
- Some humidity - damp enough not to dry the corks, ideally dry enough for the labels not to rot.
- A little air circulation
- Nothing smelly (cheese, or manure in a barn I'd guess), which might taint the wine.

So which of these are a problem?

• Stick a thermometer in there and start monitoring it. You'll get an idea of the various temperatures at different times of the day. You can get cellar thermometers with MinMax telltales
• Consider using the north wall (no heat transfer from the sun beating down on the wall)
• Would you consider boxing in a cabinet? Or butchering an old wardrobe? You could line it with rockwool or polystyrene to dramatically improve temp stability, drill a couple of holes for ventilation.
• The floor sounds stable. Build one of those rack structures on a levelling base (say a thick plank), and lock it to the wall to prevent wobble

Without seeing the room it's impossible to really advise, but I'm sure there's potential. It may not be ideal for those 2000 Petrus cases, but it would do better than screwtops I'm sure. Certainly better than the kitchen. Rather than thinking of it as a place for storing £50 wines to mature, think of it as a place to store wine for drinking now - getting out of the habit of buying from Sainsbury's on the day. If you get hooked on the idea, you can always upgrade your design at a later date (or say sod it and buy a Eurocaves wine fridge/conditioner).

The wood & metal kits like this are pretty good (provided you mount them rigidly), cheap and smaller than you'd believe. If you can, be bold and go for 100 slots. Make a space for halves (an old, open wooden box will do) and perhaps unopened dozen-cases, and jobs a good'un.

[Flintstone]

"A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Australian table wines. This is a
pity, as many fine Australian wines appeal not only to the Australian palette,
but also to the cognoscenti of Great Britain."


http://www.serve.com/bonzai/monty/classics/TheAust...

Edited by Flintstone on Thursday 11th September 17:45

[Shaw Tarse]

GilbertGrape said:

What would Macgyver Dave do?

[funinthesun]

thanks thats a great reply...

already have a 40 bottle wine fridge in the kitchen for the red wine, just thinking about actaully using a good space for something a bit more than tins of paint..

always really quit fancied on of these in the kitchen floor,... but ther are the obvious bariers to over come ( and shes not impressed with it at all)

http://www.spiralcellars.com/uk/index.html

[HiRich]

The old man had a spiral cellar in the garage of the old house. Great boys toy (who hasn't wanted a trap door?), but a there are some compromises. Space is a bit tight, all bottles have to be loose, and use of space isn't impressive (not sgging them off, they are good if you don't have the space to do it properly). If you do have the space and the money (and it sounds like you have), I would look at doing the proper business.

If you could dig under the kitchen, go the whole hog and put in a full square cellar. Same trap door, steps down, lights & insulation. Ideal conditions, more space, more flexibility (sealed cases can be stacked in a corner). If you can do it, it's the best possible solution, and might even end up cheaper than a spiral.

If you go for the barn, could you partition it off to from a room? A simple structure of 4x4" or so, plasterboarded and the roof & wall cavity filled with polystyrene board (that thick it will almost neutralise any temperature variation). Put in a step and raised floor (insulated between joists), if you don't want to mess with the cobbles or stone walls - It would be like an indoor garden shed or Portakabin if you want. Add a decent door, lights, if necessary a small oil radiator to keep the chill out. Then you have an empty cube to play with. Could also be arranged for storing hams, vegetables (whether your own, or buying whole sacks), etc.
The double insulation of the barn walls, then this "sealed box" could well give you near perfect conditions, and meet all the other likely requirements. And I reckon the price could be the right side of a grand, even with all the bells & whistles.

Either route could easily be made very impressive.