Are you considering a wine cellar?
Wine cellars are a beautiful way to store and display your wine, they are a great addition to any home adding value and increasing the saleability of your home.
One of the first steps is to determine the best location for a wine cellar in your home. Many people overlook important construction details that can limit or determine the location of your future wine cellar, so its always best to have a consultation during the early design phase of your project. If building a new home, it is advantageous to plan everything out prior to framing. Cellars can be constructed in existing homes, but there could be limitations to contend with.
Creating and designing a wine cellar should be enjoyable and often becomes one of the most celebrated additions in the home. Some of the best features of wine cellars are the aroma of mahogany or oak wood racking, warm accent lighting, rustic stone, cork flooring, tin ceilings, granite counters, glass windows, hidden doors, tasting areas, and humidor drawers.
5 Questions before you start
1. What is the bottle count and how much wine do you want to store?
Some people are collectors and some enjoy drinking, sharing, and replenishing the wine often, either way don't be shy about celebrating your wine collection. Available space and racking style will influence the bottle count. On average our clients cellar between 300 to 1200 bottles of wine.
2. What type of wine do you wish to store?
This includes reds, whites, and sparkling as well as any specialty bottles or crates you want to display. There are endless possibilities for custom racks, as we build everything to suit in our shop.
3. What would you like your cellar or wine bar to look like?
Determine the possible location in your home and what style of wine racking you would like, this can include traditional wood racking, modern metal racking or both. Explore the variety of wood species available, flooring, stone, and lighting options. Also consider creating a tasting area, or built-in cabinets for storage.
4. Do you need a cellar?
Not always, smaller scale wine storage can include a combination of free standing racks, X bins and wine fridges. This type of storage is often added to existing bars or on the mainfloor living space with high visibility.
5. Do you need a cooling unit?
A cooling unit controls the temperature and humidity of your cellar. This is important in storing the wine correctly, so take the time to consider the temperature, lighting, insulation, and the proper seal of windows and doors when creating a micro-environment. Keep in mind that modern "aquarium" style cellars with a lot of glass are extremely inefficient, and the cooling unit sizing is based on not only room dimensions, but the size that the room "feels". The ideal situation for perfect climate control is a moderate sized classic-style cellar with insulated walls, ceiling, floor if possible, and a single door. The single door can always have an insulated sealed glass insert. The more glass, the more cooling required, the more energy required. Sometimes a non-insulated wine room for display and entertainment purposes with decorative millwork is a preferred idea depending on the space, and a high-quality wine fridge can be added to the mix to offer perfect climate control for your prized bottles you wish to age.
If you are considering a wine cellar then you probably have given some thought to the above questions and possibly have agood idea of what you would like in a wine cellar. No matter how much or little you know about wine cellars, we are here to help make your cellar become a reality.
We take pride to be Calgary's only full service wine cellar contruction firm - we design and build everything locally.
To learn more, you can reach us at (403) 671-0038 or contact us online
