By Justine Olivier
The love for wine has increased so much that home owners nowadays store their wine in their very own wine cellars. If indeed you decided to store wine in a wine cellar of your own, there are a couple of things you need to take into consideration.
Firstly, you need to look at your storage need options, whether or not you want to store only a handful of wines – a wine cooler would be recommended – or whether you want a larger, more permanent investment.
Secondly, if you are building a wine cellar from scratch, or storing wine within one, it is pivotal that you pay close attention to the temperature. “The complex maturation process slows down in a cold cellar. Should this level of temperature persist, the ageing process simply stops. In a warm cellar, the maturation process accelerates; should this warmth continue the wine will eventually collapse without reaching its peak,” advises Claire Gibson, of Whirlpool.
Thirdly, humidity is also a vital factor in ensuring a satisfactory environment in which your wines can grow old and age gracefully. It is also essential to store your wines horizontally so that the cork remains damp thereby preventing any oxidisation from taking place. Claire points out that the average humidity level in a cellar must be kept above 50%.
Light also increases the potential for oxidisation-reduction reactions in wine – hence the reason why most wine is sold in dark glass bottles. Claire says that although wine is sold in dark bottles it is not a sufficient UV-ray precaution. “A true ageing wine cellar should have a solid door to ensure total darkness.” she further advises.
Country Style Interiors provides home owners with the option of creating interesting and very attractive focal points that are not only aesthetically pleasing but functional in that they store wine bottles. “We combine these components differently for different clients’ storage needs,” add experts from Country Style Interiors.
Features to enhance the look and feel of your cellar would be in the cabinetry design, fluted pilasters, sandblasted glass, and wrought iron detail insets. Professionals at Country Style Interiors mostly work in solid wood thereby producing a warm and rich ambience.
However you choose to decorated your wine cellar, nothing beats walking into your very own room stacked with your own collection.
