Sep 28 2008
A Wine Cellar In A Closet
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.
Consider the position of the cupboard or closet in relation to the outside walls of the house before you construct your wine cellar.
It is preferable to not turn a closet built against an outside wall into a wine cellar. The outer walls of your house or apartment can frequently be subject to wide fluctuations in temperature. Choose an internal closet where your wine can be stored in a more stable atmosphere.
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.
A major rule when storing wine is to avoid large (or quick) temperature changes. You’ll notice damage of this type immediately from the stickiness that will often form around the capsule. Over time the continual expansion and contraction of the wine will damage the integrity of the cork. It’s similar to having the cork pulled in and out again every day. When this happens, minute quantities of wine may be pushed out along the edge of the cork (between the cork and the bottle neck) allowing air to seep back in. Your wine will be ruined once air comes in contact with your wine and the irreversible process of oxidation begins.
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 down 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 tough … get rid of all the present contents (one way or another) 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 aesthetics than efficiency.
Individual racking is usually considered the most convenient way of storing 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.
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