Do you have wine storage?

MikeCh

Active member
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
1,963
Location
Colorado
How do you store your wine if you do?

Temperature controlled stand alone unit, natural cellar, under the stairs, kitchen cabinet, etc.?
 
Temp controlled standalone unit. Doesn't hold enough bottles. Need to upgrade to a bigger Vinetek or whatever. Suggestions welcome for around 200-250 bottles.
 
Temperature controlled wine cellar (walk in closet). Holds 1200 bottles in individual tubes. Currently, at my age, I am not buying any more. My daughter and son-in-law will probably inherit some nice bottles.

Larry
 
Three 65 bottle racks in the kitchen, and 16 boxes, each with a dozen reds, in the dining room. I had to quit the wine club last year since it was accumulating faster than I could drink it.
 
I have a 4 case wooden rack in the basement for my "drinking" wines, which never exceeds 70 degrees in the summer and 60 degrees in the winter. So a pretty stable environment. There's also a cast or two on the side down there that is for ageing.
 
Our storage is a small 4'x6' cellar we built into the basement during our remodel which is adjacent to my listening room. It sits in the corner of the overall built out space and two of the four walls are concrete foundation walls that help to keep a mostly stable temperature. The temp fluctuates between 54F in the deep winter to about 67F in the deep summer. Though temps aren't completely stable (like in a cave that holds 57F year round), the temp swings happen over several months time each cycle (cool to warm and warm to cool) and we've not noticed any detrimental effects to the wine we keep.
 
Do you guys have pictures to share?

Here's a couple of our cellar my wife and I built:
 

Attachments

  • IMG_5466 (Large).JPG
    IMG_5466 (Large).JPG
    146.4 KB · Views: 31
  • IMG_5471 (Large).JPG
    IMG_5471 (Large).JPG
    180.9 KB · Views: 29
Nice Mike,

I'm currently thinking more about music room remodeling, then will address the area where we'll add some cellar space. Currently stored in boxes and one small rack in the basement. We have an area that is just begging for a cellar. I removed a 3-zone Viking cooler from an upstairs location so I could expand the space in the dining room for my wife's spanky cabinet. Now the Viking cooler is unused in the garage. Damn thing made a hell of a racket switching the solenoid to cool the different zones. I'll probably Craigslist the damn thing. Viking 'might' make a good range, but the rest of their appliances, IMHO, are overpriced moderate quality items with proprietary parts. I also am removing a Viking gas grill from our outdoor kitchen, that thing is a genuine piece of crap.

Might load the cooler in the garage until I sell it. I can use the storage. Its fun to watch the collection grow. Ultimately, I hope to outlive my collection.
 
If your homeless and love to spend your time drinking wine, you are called a wino. If you have cash and love to drink wine, you are referred to as an oenophile. I can see being an oenophile is much better than being a wino. Oenophiles have money, homes, and wine cellars where they store lots of wine so they never run out. Winos have to wander the streets and beg for money in order to have one bottle at a time. Class privileges I guess. :D

I guess some other distinctions are that winos drink wine from bottles that come with screw caps while oenophiles only pour wine from bottles with corks. Winos don't pour their wine into a glass and go through the sniff and swirl regimen or worry about letting their wine breathe before they slug it down. They also don't talk to their wino buddies about what fruits, hardwoods, or other flavors they detect in their wine. I'm still not sure who appreciates their wine more though. :doubtful:
 
If your homeless and love to spend your time drinking wine, you are called a wino. If you have cash and love to drink wine, you are referred to as an oenophile. I can see being an oenophile is much better than being a wino. Oenophiles have money, homes, and wine cellars where they store lots of wine so they never run out. Winos have to wander the streets and beg for money in order to have one bottle at a time. Class privileges I guess. :D

I guess some other distinctions are that winos drink wine from bottles that come with screw caps while oenophiles only pour wine from bottles with corks. Winos don't pour their wine into a glass and go through the sniff and swirl regimen or worry about letting their wine breathe before they slug it down. They also don't talk to their wino buddies about what fruits, hardwoods, or other flavors they detect in their wine. I'm still not sure who appreciates their wine more though. :doubtful:

LOL Mark!
 
Two stand alone units, one with 240 bottles and one 40 bottles undercounter unit at capacity. Actually have 24 bottles waiting for their slot in boxes! I don't drink fast enough I guess although my liver is telling me otherwise.
 
If your homeless and love to spend your time drinking wine, you are called a wino. If you have cash and love to drink wine, you are referred to as an oenophile. I can see being an oenophile is much better than being a wino. Oenophiles have money, homes, and wine cellars where they store lots of wine so they never run out. Winos have to wander the streets and beg for money in order to have one bottle at a time. Class privileges I guess. :D

I guess some other distinctions are that winos drink wine from bottles that come with screw caps while oenophiles only pour wine from bottles with corks. Winos don't pour their wine into a glass and go through the sniff and swirl regimen or worry about letting their wine breathe before they slug it down. They also don't talk to their wino buddies about what fruits, hardwoods, or other flavors they detect in their wine. I'm still not sure who appreciates their wine more though. :doubtful:
... haha, they seem to spit it out a lot too.
 
I'm afraid to accumulate too much wine at one time. I don't wanna drink everyday.

Also, if I buy what I really want to drink I would be on the street twisting off screwcaps before too long.
 
Nice, Mike! I use a Eurocave wine fridge, about 180 bottles or so capacity I think. Has worked well for over 10 years, tho the LCD temp gauge is broken.
 
Thanks for the comments on our cellar gents! Please post some pics of your storage systems too.
 
Just out of curiosity, do you guys like the single bottle holder type of storage, or those triangle shaped holes where you build an upside down pyramid of bottles? Mike has both types in his closet.

I figure the single bottle holder is probably better if you want to find something and only have 1 or 2 bottles of it, but the triangles are better if you have 1/2-1 case of the same wine and want to keep it together. Right?

I guess when I build my closet it would make sense to have both styles available too.
 
Just out of curiosity, do you guys like the single bottle holder type of storage, or those triangle shaped holes where you build an upside down pyramid of bottles? Mike has both types in his closet.

I figure the single bottle holder is probably better if you want to find something and only have 1 or 2 bottles of it, but the triangles are better if you have 1/2-1 case of the same wine and want to keep it together. Right?

I guess when I build my closet it would make sense to have both styles available too.

Hi Bob, there are advantages to both (and disadvantages to both). I personally like the single bottle racks best but we had purchased both types of racking twenty years ago without knowing what we'd end up preferring. The single bottle racks hold most bottles just fine (including 375ml splits) but don't allow some of the fattest Pinot Noir, Chardonnay or Champagne bottles very easily. The X's hold Bordeaux style bottles (straight sides, not bulbous) very well and you can stack them as you say, "in pyramid form". The X's don't hold Champagne or the Pinot Noir bottles very well unless you have just one layer as stacking these bulbous bottle styles just isn't too safe.

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • BottleSizeChart.jpg
    BottleSizeChart.jpg
    122.6 KB · Views: 16
Back
Top