People who are passionate about wine usually start to collect it and as the wine collection grows you begin looking for a place to store your wine collection.
A cupboard can readily be converted into a mini wine cellar to store a growing wine collection.
However, before you start building your mini wine closet consider the position of the closet in relation to the rest of the house.
If possible, avoid converting a closet against an outside wall into a wine cellar. The outer walls of your home can be subject to wide seasonal temperature fluctuations in temperature. Ideally, choose an internal closet where your wine will be able to be stored at a more constant temperature.
The degree and the speed of any change in temperature are critical elements in successfully storing and aging wine. A gradual change of a few degrees between summer and winter won’t matter. A similar change each day will certainly cause harm to your wines by ageing them too quickly.
The number one rule when you are storing wine is to avoid large temperature fluctuations. Damage of this type will be evident immediately from the stickiness that often forms around the capsule. Over time, the continued expansion then contraction of the wine will damage the integrity of the cork. It’s just like having the cork pulled and replaced every day. When this occurs, tiny quantities of wine may be pushed out along the edge of the cork – between the cork and the neck of the bottle – 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.
At 55ºF to 58ºF the wine will age slowly, enabling it to develop fully as intended by the winemaker. Higher temperatures age wine more rapidly and cooler temperatures slow the ageing process. The damage done to your wine will be irreversible if it is stored at temperatures over 82ºF even for a month.
Perhaps the most difficult part of building a mini wine cellar closet is finding other locations to store what is already in the closet!! Don’t hesitate … remove all the present contents (give away / auction / move them) and begin with an empty closet!
Purchase inexpensive wine racks from an online retailer, hardware store or storage shop and you’ll have a simple but effective mini wine cellar.
Wine rack designs vary in the number of bottles they can carry; price variations have less to do with efficiency and more to do with aesthetics.
Individual racks makes it easy to select bottles. If you place racks against only one wall of the closet there may still be floor or shelf space available for wines that you purchase by the case.
