Wine The Buyer's Cellar Proper Storage of Liquid Assets By Bernard Ledermann How can some people exercise the most exquisite connoisseurship when it comes to choosing wines, and yet be so clueless when it comes to properly storing their valuable holdings? Several years ago, an oenophile (though you’d never know it) friend received a bottle of premium 1978 California Cabernet. When last seen, about three years after receipt, that glorious gift was spied warmly reposing in a small rack atop the friend’s refrigerator. I kept my tongue in check, but recoiled at the thought of the tawny swill that would one day emerge from its container. One can imagine a dash of Balsamic vinegar with more exciting flavors. Dungeons and demons So often the literature of wine speaks romantically of moments in some cobwebby 18th century cellar when Mr. Pepys or Mr. Hudson “draw out two tierces [and you thought metric is crazy] of claret or another of Malaga and another of sack all in the wine cellar together.” No doubt today’s serious collector of vintage fantasies dreams of times past, a dusky manse on the Scottish moors near Tweed River, and the chill, dank, wine storage space 20 feet below the banqueting hall. Collector, rein in your imagination. You can bet the vaulted cellars of yore had their share of problems to bedevil the keeping of wines over the long haul. True, no direct sunlight ever penetrated, but can you imagine the high humidity, the molds, the allergenic spores. Storage considerations These are few and should be easy to remember. Foremost, no more keeping wines, any wines—unless it’s your “bottle of the day”—in the kitchen or any place where temperatures fluctuate significantly. Nearly as crucial as temperature in the storage of the world’s most lively beverage is humidity control. As mentioned, too much moisture can bring molds, ruin shelving and drywall materials, affect corks, and cause the 1970 Marc Chagall label to curl and slither off your precious bottle of Mouton-Rothschild. Too little humidity brings the danger of shrinking corks, loss of wine, and formation of air space (ullage) in the shoulder of your bottle. Loathsome thought. A cork is, after all, a protean item that swells or shrinks like a macadam road during a Buffalo winter. How you choose to construct an environment with prime conditions will largely depend on your practicality, sense of the aesthetic, or depth of your pockets. Perhaps some of each. If your needs are modest, say, for holding less than a thousand bottles (80 cases) of lesser quality wine from average vintage years, a simple 10 X 10-ft. insulated cellar room may suffice. Or, if your collecting zeal surpasses Mr. Pepys, go the really hard route, as a West Coast acquaintance did some nine years ago: excavate 210 cubic yds. of earth beneath an existing house, tinker with Epoxy #5 rebars, speed blocks, a sump pump, water-tight barriers, slate flooring, custom cobblestones of stucco for ceiling and walls, and redwood shelving for 2,000 bottles, and pretty soon you’ll ante up close to $25k. Add another $20k of inventory and you’re talking some real scratch. Ah, but you’ll be noticed by Wine Spectator magazine and Francis Ford Coppola. Shelving for the cellar does matter. You may choose redwood for its aesthetic appeal, although other moisture-proofed materials work well also. If you select bookcase-style bins in which to store your wines, be sure you build or buy a construction that will allow you to stagger rows of bottles; otherwise, stacking or removing bottles will turn into an exercise of holding-maneuvering-holding again, and bottles may still roll into the nearest valley with an unnerving glassy clap. Diamond shaped bins are stylish and force you to stagger bottle rows; hence, secure positioning and no rolling as you pull out a Chianti for tonight’s pasta feast. Both bin types are available pre-fabricated, either ready-to-use or in an easy-to-assemble mode. Get Organized in Victor, NY is a commercial outlet offering many styles of attractive yet utilitarian wine shelving with wide appeal. Whatever the shelving you choose, remember bottles must be stored horizontally and cases stacked on their sides. Cardboard cartons are discouraged in a cellar as they are subject to slumping, decay, and other moisture damage. So long as cork is deemed the primary way to keep air away from wine, horizontal storage will keep wine against the cork; ergo, slightly swollen and air-tight. A bottle standing upright over a long period will eventually offer up a cork that is shrunken and has surely allowed air to enter and oxidize the wine within. Alas, another glorious Chardonnay has turned into an inferior tasting, sherry-like drink. What’s optimal? It is thought that heat, especially variable heat, does more to accelerate the maturation of wines than any single factor. Ideally, those experienced with wine cellars report, wine should be stored at 55 degrees F, but a deviation range between 55 and 65 degrees shouldn’t appreciably hasten the development of wines that you expect to drink over a 12-year span. Remember, though, that wine in different bottle sizes will mature at varying rates: keep an eye on dessert-style wines in 375ml bottles that may suddenly develop a color deeper than marigold. You could be enjoying a fine Sauternes or German Auslese sooner than expected. At the other extreme, a noble Bordeaux rouge in a Jeroboam (3 liters, or four regular bottles) could have a life expectancy of 30 years or more. On the humidity side, keep a relative humidity of 55-70% year round. Your storage area will most likely require some electrical de-humidification and both exterior and interior walls plus the floor of any overlying building should be blanketed with polystyrene vapor barriers. Homes recently constructed should have guarantees against moisture entering at the foundation wall around your storage space, if in a cellar, but watch for seepage. Storing the easy way If conferences with architects and expenditures to building contractors aren’t what you’re ready to take on, you may be a candidate for a pre-built, cooled, and humidity-controlled “cellar” you can install anywhere in your home. International Wine Accessories (IWA) of Dallas arguably has the best selection of storage units as well as non-cooled wine racks. Look at all their choices on their excellent web site (www.iwawine.com), or call for a catalog at 1-800-527-4072. IWA offers ten different brands and nearly 50 models of “cellar vaults,” with storage capacities ranging from 40 to 790 bottles (over 60 cases). Most models offer furniture quality oak, cherry or black exteriors, insulated glass doors, and optional redwood racking. Rare is the unit that doesn’t have fine structural integrity and first-rate insulation. Vault units are often cooled by Breezaire equipment, highly respected in the industry, with compressor and exhaust noises well muted. One French-engineered cellar, The Transtherm, even provides both cooling and heating. Now you can have properly-stored wines in locations that vary from glacial cold to shimmering heat; besides, you can make a decorative statement in your kitchen, den, or library by showing off attractive furniture AND your vino. You can also create your own walk-in cellar system, again thanks to IWA and its deluxe stand-alone Wine Room. With oak exterior and mahogany interiors (Portuguese wines would feel right at home: their sturdier reds are aged in mahogany casks), you can have a space up to 7 ft wide, 10 ft deep with “stand-up room” for a six-ft. person. Bottle capacity for this unique space: 2600 bottles (almost 220 cases). This isn’t storage for the miserly: before freight costs, expect a tab of around $6,000. For the readily gratified Under the heading “Impossible but True” is the fact that most wine purchases are consumed within 48 hours after leaving the retailer’s. In truth, there are the quantity buyers, but their case purchase is usually intended to carry them through the next two weeks or so. Smart in a way, because they’re leaving the temperature-controlled storage up to their local wine merchant. For the “drink soon” buyer, a 12-bottle modular rack such as the popular RTA brand under a kitchen cabinet—but never on the fridge—will be just right. Other buyers may choose the bottom portion of an interior closet—avoid sun-struck south or west walls, please—and install a low-cost grid that will handle up to 40 bottles. A word of caution, though: be sure your grid can accommodate 750ml Champagnes as well as Burgundy-style (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) bottles. For still another group of wine lovers, short-term storage means living with the objects of their affection “out front”—living room or den—and employing casual, even whimsical storage systems. A forward-looking Toronto company, Pure Design, produces eye-catching, almost sculptural bottle racks and accessories. Their behind-the-couch table with surf board top, called the ‘Barolo’ model, (in maple or cherry) holds 16 bottles between the table legs. Also look for one of their free-standing wrought iron constructions such as the “Mantis” or the “Ecto.” These are very smart-looking and hold a case or more for “ready” drinking. Your taste in room appointments and wine will certainly be lauded. Systematic sipping In case you’ve started collecting wines, no one needs to point out how inveterate is the hobby you’re practicing. Before your spouse realizes it, there are 80 cases in the cellar—enough stock to fill every pigeon hole in a wall six feet high by 12 feet long. (Fiscally you've also invested about $16 thousand, but that's another story.) Now your challenge is how to organize 1,000 bottles so you'll know what and how much of each there is and when you should enjoy it. Persons with P.C. savvy will start by building a data base of their inventory, categorizing either by geographical origins of the wines, vintage dates (chronological ordering), or by type of grape from which the wines are produced: i.e., Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Chardonnay, which will provide further indicators—though not conclusive—of wines’ aging potential. With some computers, one can even fashion a diagram of cellar shelving and what resides in each space—making sure to make adjustments as bottles are pulled. How you may choose to fashion a cellar “log-book” is still not as important as how accessible you keep your bottles. If stacking several vintages of the same producer to depths of two bottles or more, be sure to keep the most drinkable vintage in the foreground. Also provide yourself with a separate “ready bin”—always in eye-shot—stocked with those few bottles you can’t wait to try, wines with diminishing “life,” or items you need out front for special tastings with friends. This strategy eliminates frantic clinking and crashing as you paw through to bottles you deep-sixed unintentionally. Above all, invest in reusable bottle tags which hang from bottle necks and to which you can apply an erasable pen with data about the producer, wine and vintage date. Chill factor Before anyone conjures up the ghost of Betty Furness standing in front of a 50's Kelvinator, this final reference to refrigerators will be brief. People ask whether their old Frigidaire in the basement might provide the right storage for age-worthy wines. Keeping a constant 55 degrees would be of minor concern, though with an older appliance one never knows. Proper humidity could be a problem; arranging bottles in staggered rows would certainly be difficult, and if the compressor motor is an old wheezer, your bottles will be subjected to vibration. Excessive shaking doesn't allow the sediment in older red wines to compact. Harsh lees are kept in suspension and that could mean a bitter swallow for you and your guests later on, especially if you do not practice decanting. Incidentally, standing red wines upright 2-3 days before serving is always preferred. Later, decanting with a bright light source under the neck of the bottle —especially useful when handling old red Burgundies—and cutting off cloudy wine when it appears in the neck will eliminate unflattering flavors. How long before dinner you decant will depend on the age of the wine. For older vintages allow less time for aeration in decanter; for youthful stuff, 90 minutes of "breathing" may be just right. Finally, if you’re really determined to see your collection properly stored in a cellar environment with a lot of “You” in its final appearance, you may wish to refer to the best book of its type, How & Why to Build a Wine Cellar by Richard M. Gold (Sandhill Publishing, North Amherst, MA, 1996). For now, here’s to effortless building, serendipitous collecting, and spectacular sipping. Bernie Ledermann, who lives and works in North Carolina, is a wine retailer, writer and professional taster. While living in Western New York, he designed and built a modest 400-bottle cellar. SUBSCRIBE NOW Back to the Table of Contents Back to Top