Turn A Closet Into A Mini Wine Cellar
By ama | October 29, 2008
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.
Avoid converting a closet against an outside wall into a wine cellar. The outer walls of your abode can be subject to wide fluctuations in temperature from season to season. Ideally, choose an internal closet where your wine will be able to be stored at a more constant temperature.
The speed and the degree of the temperature change are critical elements to successfully storing and aging wine. The gradual change of a just a few degrees between summer and winter doesn't matter. A similar change each day will harm your wines by ageing them too rapidly.
The major rule when in wine storage is to avoid wide fluctuations in temperature. You'll be aware of this damage straight away from the sticky deposit that often forms around the capsule. Over a period of time the continual contraction and expansion of the wine will damage the integrity of the cork. It's like having the cork pulled in and out again every day. When this occurs, very small amounts of wine may be expelled along the edge of the cork (between the cork and the neck of the bottle) allowing air to seep in. Once air comes in contact with your wine the irreversible process of oxidation will begin and your wine will be ruined.
At 55º to 58ºF the wine will age gracefully, enabling it to fully develop as the winemaker intended. Higher temperatures will age wine more rapidly and cooler temperatures will slow the ageing process. The damage done to your wine will be irreversible if it is stored at a temperature above 82ºF for even a month.
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! Be strong ... remove all the present contents (give away / auction / move them) and start with an empty closet!
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 will vary in bottle density; price variations have less to do with efficiency and more to do with appearance.
Individual racking makes it easy to select bottles. If you have 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.
Topics: Uncategorized |
Leave a Reply
« How to Putt a Golf Ball – Surely it not this easy for beginners | Home | Last Minute Ticket Promotions - Benefit or Not? »
