If you are a connoisseur of fine wines, there is only so long that you can get by with a basic wine rack to serve as storage for your collection of vintages. At some point, you will either need to have a special wine cabinet or a full wine cellar to make sure that your wine is stored at the proper temperature and humidity to protect it and so that it ages correctly. You will have greater assurances of wine that tastes its best with a properly designed wine cellar.
Along with providing services for home comfort, the team at Premier Indoor Comfort Systems also installs, maintains, and repairs wine storage areas, such as wine cellars, in Atlanta, GA. When you are interested in going to the next level with wine storage, contact us for the help you will need.
Here are 3 things you need for a wine cellar (aside from wine)
- A cooling system: One of the basic guidelines for storing wine is to “keep it cool.” Your wine cellar should never rise higher than 70°F, which will cause the wine to age rapidly, and in the short term it will “cook” the wine and remove flavor. This is also a poor serving temperature, regardless of the grape. You want to target a cooler temperature range of 45°F to 65°F; many connoisseurs think that 55°F is the ideal temperature. The proper wine cooling system will maintain the best temperature inside your cellar so that your wine ages well and is always at the best temperature for serving.
- Insulation and vapor barrier: Insulation is an important part of maintaining the temperature inside the cellar from outside weather conditions. This insulation is different from that in the rest of a house, since it is concerned not with keeping people comfortable, but shielding wine. Controlling humidity is also extremely important to protecting the wine in a cellar. A vapor barrier in the insulation will prevent the entry of excess moisture that can result in poor aging. The barrier will also prevent a loss of too much vapor, since dry air will lead to cork cracking.
- Proper lighting: Wine cellars are not merely utilitarian spots in your home, and they are rarely literally dark underground cellars. They should be designed to look beautiful and enticing, and for this they will require the right lighting. The lights must serve two purposes: pleasing illumination, and maintaining the proper temperature. Your installer will help you pick out the right bulbs that will not add excess heat and spoil the well-maintained temperature balance.
This sounds like a great deal of work, but if you hire expert wine cellar installers, you will have few worries.
Our specialists in wine storage at Premier Indoor Comfort Systems have installed many excellent wine cellars in Atlanta, GA over the years, and you can trust your collection of valuable vintages to us.