What Makes A Good Wine Cellar?

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Modern wine cellars can easily become the crown jewel in any home with their beautiful, organized look. The lighting, the storage furniture, the size of the bottles, and their placement on the wine racks are all important aspects. In this article, we provide a comprehensive overview of what makes a good wine cellar.

The aspects of a collection-ready bottle of wine

It is a new trend among collectors to prefer Chilean, Argentinian, New Zealand, Australian, and South African wines, which are still available today in very good quality and also at a very reasonable price.

The situation is different in the traditional Western European and American markets, where it is difficult to get into the circle of those who are allowed to buy from reputable wineries. Investment funds are willing to buy wine from the large French and American wineries as long as they have grapes because they are confident that the value of the products made there will continue to increase.

What are the qualities that make some of the featured lots sought-after treasures at major international auctions? Quality, durability, rarity. It is the combination of these qualities that can determine the ultimate value. Of the three main criteria, it is perhaps quality that is the most difficult to determine from year to year. Shelf life, ripeness, and rarity themselves are facts that can be documented from wine to wine. 

If we look into the chronicles of past decades or even centuries, records, auction reports, and wine descriptions by reliable experts give us not only reliable clues but also guidance. However, we do not know the organoleptic characteristics of the fresh lots in current auctions until we have the opportunity to interact with the lots in a blind tasting. The last ten years have done a lot to raise the standard of wine knowledge in this area. More and more people seem to be tasting wines more consciously, which is ultimately the biggest incentive for producers.

Well-ageing bottles

The Speyer wine bottle (Römerwein) is believed to be the oldest surviving wine in the world, dating back to Roman times. In 1867, the sarcophagus of a Roman nobleman and his wife was found containing 16 bottles, one of which was completely intact. According to scientific studies, it survived nearly 2,000 years because the bottle was sealed with wax and a few drops of olive oil were added to the wine as a "preservative." Experts have debated practically since the discovery whether the bottle should be opened to analyze its contents. So far, the "no" side has won and the glass is now part of the collection of the Speyer History Museum.

For a wine to mature under positive conditions and become even better as time passes by, it needs natural preserving elements. It must contain alcohol, acidity, sweetness, sugar (natural sugar from grapes), and be rich in tannins. Several characteristics of the wine are determined by tannic acid:

• It is found in grape skins, stems, and seeds; 

• As a result of maceration and fermentation on the skins of the blue grapes, it gives the wine a characteristic tart flavor present in red wines to a greater extent than in white wines; 

• Barrels add tannins and aromatic molecules to wines, having a positive effect but only in ideal amounts. 

The best collection-ready, old, and serious bottles are coming from Bordeaux (Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot), Burgundy (Pinot Noir & Chardonnay), Northern Italy, Piedmont (Nebbiolo), Tuscany (Sangiovese), Veneto (Corvina, Molinara, and Rondinella for the Amarone Classico trio), from the Napa Valley in California (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay), and Priorat and Rioja (Tempranillo) in Spain.

What is the best method to store your collection?

The older the wine, the less good it is for it to suffer from strong fluctuations in light and temperature. Wine thrives at a temperature between 12 and 18 degrees Celsius, with an optimal humidity of 50-80%, making wine cooling an important factor. However, most experts say that corked wines should be stored flat, as the cork comes into contact with the wine and prevents the cork from drying out. 

If the humidity is properly adjusted and maintained, bottles can be stored upright in the cellar. However, if you do not have a well-built individual wine cellar, it is better to store the bottles lying down. Many collectors buy bottles in larger sizes, as wine tends to remain more stable in larger bottles than in a 750 ml size.

A few practical tips for organizing your collection:

• Assign sections by type of wine. Start with rosé and sparkling wines, then move on to white and red wines, and finish your collection with the dessert wine section. Another handy grouping idea is to separate the wines for everyday consumption and the collection. 

• Wine labels help to easily identify departments and other aspects of the organization. Many collectors group bottles by region, manufacturer, or even type of food. This way, you can make sure not to pop up a bottle of 1830 Duque do Porto for sushi night. (If mentioned, sushi goes well with off-dry Riesling).

• Advanced technology is on your side not only when it comes to creating the perfect temperature and keeping up the right level of humidity. You can either register your collection in a spreadsheet (such as Google Sheets), or you can use CellarTracker (or one of its six alternatives), which helps manage the collection with great features. You can set the price and time of purchase, and the most innovative apps notify you in advance when your wines are best to consume.

The best wine cellars look stunning because they are built for just that place in your home. Innovative technologies help you maintain the necessary environmental conditions for your collection while allowing you to organize your bottles according to your needs. Get inspired by our quick guide and update your collection today. And remember, the best collections deserve fascinating storage on high-quality wine racks.

For more information on how to properly store your wine, and the perfect storage temperature for each type of wine in your collection, feel free to view our wine storage guide infographic below!

Why Are Custom Wine Cellars And Wines Great Investments?

When people think of wine cellars, the image that appears before them is that of an old, haunted, historic, underground hall, with huge cobwebs woven between wooden barrels. This image is in keeping with the traditional European approach, where centuries-old cellars containing the finest Italian and French drinks await tourists. However, it wouldn't be easy to replicate it in an urban area. This is what brings modern, in-house wine cellars to life. In this article, we will introduce you to why these solutions are great investments.

What are modern-day wine cellars?

Wine cellars have evolved from being an underground basement room full of barrels to innovative products that are custom-built to fit your home, regardless of it being a house or an apartment. 

Modern wine cellars have three different parts:

• A shelving system to store the bottles in a transparent manner

• Glass walls to separate this space from the room

• An air conditioning system that establishes and maintains the proper temperature

Why invest in wine?

Wine cellars are only useful if you have bottles of wine to showcase and preserve for either future occasions or sales. Most wine collectors naturally become investors as well. When their cellars are full, they sell a few bottles and make substantial, often surprising profits. 

Buying quality wines, especially French ones, have yielded higher returns in recent years than bonds, stocks, or even one of the most successful products of the last decade, gold. Wine indices, which are mainly composed of quality wines from Bordeaux, have shown an average increase of more than 20 percent per year during the last 5 years.

As wine becomes less and less simply a luxury item and increasingly serves as an investment vehicle, a wine exchange has already been set up in London and many wine investment funds are already on the market. 

When it comes to wines, the old, famous, and well-seasoned specialty bottles are of great value. The price of good quality wines is mainly determined by the fact, that over time, their supply decreases. 90 percent of wines are consumed in the first year after they are produced, while the demand for luxury goods is increasing, which is the reason for the skyrocketing profits of investors. 

In addition to the positive development in the past, the outlook is also promising: in the long term, further growth in demand is expected. The Sotheby's auction house, for instance, auctioned wine worth more than 92 million dollars in 2020. Demand for wine is boosted by the changing demographics of those interested in wine in recent years: While the average age of the clientele used to be between 60 and 65, it has now decreased to 40-45.

What do the best investment wines have in common?

• The wine should be rated within the top 5% by one or more influential wine journals to be considered investment quality.

• It is important to note that investment quality wines must be produced by wineries that have an unparalleled reputation, regardless of the consensus of critics. Newer entrants to the market are particularly affected by this.

• It must reach its optimal maturity at least 10 years after bottling and should last at least 25 years. (Most non-investment wines are highly rated in their first year, and less than 1% last more than a decade).

• Few (if any) investment-grade wines are produced in quantities greater than 20,000 cases.

How can wine cellars further increase the value of your collection?

Storing high-end wine bottles requires special equipment that helps preserve both the look and the contents. A custom wine cellar provides a larger space that allows homeowners to save money on storage.

Having the storage system in-house introduces a few other aspects:

• Eventually, access to storage becomes much more convenient when it is managed in-house. 

• You have 24/7 access to your collection and can review any item instantly, giving you a high level of visibility.

• Looking at the big picture empowers you to identify potential gaps in your collections, which you can improve by acquiring the missing items. This way, you will have a complete overview of your wine treasure and can organize it according to your future plans.

• Seeing your collection as a whole also gives you pleasure as you enjoy the stunning visuals. 

• A high-quality, modern wine cellar increases the value of your property and opens the doors to a whole different audience, resulting in a faster sale. 

How to choose the right contractor to build a custom wine cellar for you?

Just as wine requires fine taste and special care, so does the wine cellar require a professional skill. The wine cellar is so much more than simple shelving and air conditioning. An experienced contractor understands how a wine cellar fits into your current home design. Our wine cellar builders will help you plan the size you need (based on your current and future collection), create a design that is able to enhance the current look while choosing a smart climate control system that adapts to the needs of the contents. Creating and building the necessary parts is only a matter of weeks, depending on the materials you choose. 

If you are looking for the best custom wine cellar for your home, check out our website, our gallery, and don't hesitate to ask questions about our wine cellar builders. We, at Innovative Saunas and Cellars Inc., are more than happy to provide you with the best solutions available.