A Wine Cellar In A Small Space
When you are passionate about wine you start to collect it … and when you begin collecting it you need a place to store it.
A closet can easily be turned into a mini wine cellar to store your growing wine collection.
Before you start your wine cellar construction it is important to pay attention to the position of the cupboard in relation to the rest of the house.
You should not convert a closet against an outside wall into a wine cellar. The outer walls of your home can often be subjected to wide temperature fluctuations across the seasons. Choose an internal closet where your wine can be stored in a more stable atmosphere.
The degree and the speed of the temperature change are critical to successfully storing and aging wine. A gradual change of a few degrees between summer and winter shouldn’t be a cause for concern. The same change each day will harm your wines by ageing them too rapidly.
A major rule when storing wine is to avoid large (or quick) temperature changes. You’ll be aware of this damage straight away from the sticky deposit that often forms around the capsule. Over time the continual expansion and contraction of the wine will damage the integrity of the cork. It’s just like having the cork removed and replaced every day. When this occurs, tiny quantities of wine can be pushed out along the edge of the cork (between the cork and the bottle neck) allowing air to seep back in. Once the air is in contact with your wine the irreversible process of oxidation begins and your wine is ruined.
Stored at a temperature range of 55º to 58ºF the wine will age as intended, and develop fully. Higher temperatures will age wine more rapidly and cooler temperatures will slow down the ageing process. Irreversible damage will occur if your wine is stored at a temperature above 82ºF for a month or more.
The most difficult part of creating a wine cellar in a closet can be finding other places to store the original contents of the closet! Don’t worry about being ruthless … sell / give away / move all the present contents and start with a blank slate!
Buy inexpensive wine racks from a hardware store, online retailer or storage shop and you’ll have an easy and very effective mini wine cellar.
Wine rack designs vary in bottle density; price variations have more to do with appearance than efficiency.
Single racking is generally the easiest for selecting bottles. If you place racks against only one wall of the closet you may still have floor or shelf space available for wines that you purchase by the case.
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