Best Place to Store Wine: Where to Put a Wine Cellar in Your Home

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1. Best Location for Your Wine Cellar in a House
2. Choosing the Best Location for Your Wine Cellar
3. The Basics of Wine Storage
4. Best Wine Cellar Cooling Units
5. Final Word

Picking the perfect location for your wine cellar may seem like it would be an easy decision, but it is not. Where you put your wine cellar often determines how well it will perform for you. There are several factors that you need to take into consideration when picking the best location for your wine cellar. These factors are mostly based on the other climate conditions in your area. As a result, one person may have different preferences when picking a good location for their wine cellar than another person in a different area.

Best Location for Your Wine Cellar in a House

Where to place the best location for your wine cellar, regardless of where you live? These are some of our recommendations:

Basement

The basement is the best location for a wine cellar. The wine cellar basement has all three things a cellar should be — dark, cool, and humid. It's easier to keep a consistent temperature and humidity, as well as to keep out other elements like direct light and vibrations. So if you have one, this is the ideal spot to build your cellar. Red wine is particularly sensitive to temperature variations and benefits greatly from the stable conditions provided by a basement.

Dining Room

Not everyone has a basement, but every home has a dining room. Having a wine cellar in your dining area becomes a conversation starter. It instantly enhances the aesthetics of your dining room especially if you transform an ordinary wall into a wine wall. It's also pretty convenient to have your wine close by as you dine.

Living Room

Another part of the house that you can transform into a wine cellar is a section of your living room. The most common is a wine wall enclosed in a glass enclosure. A wine cellar in your living room becomes a focal point that will surely entertain your guests.

Under the Stairs

Are you living in a two-story house? There’s a great chance you have extra space beneath the stairs. If you have extra space, you may repurpose it to store your wine. You can probably fit a wine fridge in the compartment even if you just have a little amount of space.

To store wine correctly under the stairs, it is important to minimize vibrations and maintain a stable environment. This helps preserve the wine's quality and flavor.

The only downside is that stairs are used often which causes vibrations that can be harmful to wine.

In the Hallway

If you have a wide hallway, you can make a decorative wine wall on one of the walls. Another alternative is to create a wine closet in a dark and secluded area of your hallway if you have one. Show off your wine collection as a prized possession in one of the halls of your home.

Any Unused Room or Closet

Finally, you may make a wine cellar out of an unused room. If it’s an unused guest room, this could be perfect for a large cellar for your extensive collection. If you have an unused nook or closest, you may convert it into a small wine closet or a wine cabinet. Look around your house for any unused spaces that could be transformed into a mini-cellar.

Choosing the Best Location for Your Wine Cellar

Did you know that the best location to put your wine cellar depends on what type of room it will be in? The important thing is to keep things cool and dark.

The first step in how to build a wine cellar is to find a good location. Some parts of your home are better suited for installing a wine cellar than others. It can help you in identifying the type of cellar construction necessary. It can also help how to determine the size of the wine cellar cooling unit and what type of wine cooler cellar units work best for your cellar. To properly store wine at home, it is crucial to manage temperature, light exposure, and humidity. Even without a dedicated wine cellar, simple measures can maintain the wine's flavors and aromas.

Here’s a quick video on the qualities of a good cellar location.

• The basement is the best choice. Maintains a consistent temperature and humidity, and is isolated from factors like direct light and vibrations.
• A wine cellar under the stairs sounds great, but the stairs are frequently used, producing vibrations.
• Wine cellar cooling systems need to be maintained regularly.
• Avoid insulated rooms and garages. These spaces are designed for cars, not wines, so it's best to stay away from them.
• Avoid areas that are prone to power outages or mechanical breakdowns when building a wine cellar.

When choosing a room or space for your wine cellar, consider some  of these questions before deciding on a location for your wine cellar.

1. What are your goals for your wine cellar?

Most wine enthusiasts build a wine cellar for storage and aging, while others build it for entertainment purposes. Maybe you’d like your wine cellar to match the interiors and have it inside your home or perhaps you'd prefer to go the traditional way and build it underground or in the basement. Determine what you want to achieve with your wine cellar.

2. How often are you going to access the wine room?

Do you prefer your wine cellar to be easily accessible? How frequently do you plan to enter your wine room? These questions can help determine the location of your cellar.

3. How many bottles will you keep and how long will you keep them?

Whether it's 100 or more than a thousand, estimate the number of bottles you’ll need to store in your wine cellar. This can help you decide the size of the room you need, as well as the type of wine room cooling unit you should get. It's also worth thinking about how long you'll be keeping bottles in your wine storage.

Even table wine requires careful handling to preserve its flavors. For practical home storage, keep your wines in a cool, dark place with a consistent temperature and moderate humidity, avoiding direct sunlight and vibrations.

Did you know? It’s easier to maintain a consistent temperature and humidity level in subterranean areas, making it a perfect location for long-term wine storage.

4. How much storage space do you have?

Does your storage space accommodate the number of wine bottles you have? Consider finding a large place for your cellar if you have a huge collection of wine to store or age. But avoid going overboard with or overestimating it. The majority of in-home wine cellars are less than 500 square feet.

You can install through-the-wall wine cooling systems or ductless wine cellar cooling units if your wine cellar has an adjacent utility room. Make sure you have enough space for ducting if you plan to install ducted wine cellar refrigeration units.

5. What kind of lighting do you have in that space?

Wine cellars must be constructed in a naturally dark location. So it's best to keep the amount of natural light in your cellar as low as possible.

6. Will there be furniture in the room?

Wine cellars that have furniture will require more space. They will also be set out differently than standard cellars with just wine racks.

The Basics of Wine Storage

When it comes to caring for your valuable wine collection, be sure to follow the basics of properly storing wine.

Proper Temperature

When it comes to wine storage, maintaining the ideal conditions is paramount for preserving the wine's quality over time. The ideal temperature range for storing wine is between 45°F to 65°F, with 55°F being considered the perfect middle ground for most wines. This temperature range helps to ensure that the wine ages gracefully without being subjected to temperature variations that could spoil its flavor and aroma.

Relative humidity is another crucial factor in wine storage. The ideal humidity level should be between 50% to 70% to keep the corks moist, which prevents them from drying out and allowing air to seep into the bottle. A well-maintained cellar with these conditions will protect your wine collection from the adverse effects of improper storage, such as mold growth or cork deterioration.

White wines, particularly those that are lighter in color, should be stored at the cooler end of the temperature spectrum, while full-bodied red wines can benefit from slightly warmer storage within the recommended range. If you’re storing different types of wine together, setting the temperature to 55°F can be a good compromise to accommodate both red and white wines.

For short durations, white wine can be kept in the refrigerator, but long-term storage requires a dedicated wine cellar or wine cooler to maintain the ideal temperature and humidity. Proper storage conditions are essential to ensure that your wine retains its intended flavors and characteristics over time.

How to keep wine cellar cool? 

Does a wine cellar need to be cooled? Absolutely! They NEED to be cooled in order to preserve the flavor and quality of your wine. If a dedicated wine cellar isn't available, a wine refrigerator can be a practical alternative for maintaining proper storage conditions.

Wine Cellar Cooling Systems give the most impact on how to cool wine cellars, closet wine cellars, wine cellar cabinets, and other wine storage. Wine room coolers keep a precise wine cellar cooling and humidity level. Here are other reasons why you should purchase a wine cooler unit for your cellar.

Reasons to Purchase a Wine Cooler

• Wine Cellar Cooling Units to maintain a consistent temperature in your wine cellar 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.
• Wine cooling units have wine cellar temperature control to keep the right temperature, humidity, and even lighting conditions inside the wine cellar.
• Wine cellar cooler units help preserve the flavor and aroma of wine over time.
• Wine room cooling units protect your wine from temperature fluctuations, which can potentially harm the corks and degrade the quality of your wine.

How do wine cellar cooling units work?

Wine Cellar Cooling Systems, also called wine cellar air conditioners, work just like regular air conditioners by cooling the air and removing any excess moisture. Since they maintain the right wine cellar humidity level, less water is removed during the procedure. These wine cellar coolers have a compressor, condenser, evaporator, and meter device as the primary components of the system.

How to choose a wine cellar cooling unit?

When choosing a wine cellar cooling system, there are a few qualities and requirements to consider. Check the size of the cellar, the ventilation requirements, the bottle capacity, and the type of application you want for your cellar, whether it's a ducted or ductless installation.

Wine cellar cooling units come in different types. For mini wine cellars, there are compact wine cellar cooling units or small wine cellar cooling units. For large cellars, you can install split wine cellar cooling units self-contained wine cooling systems, or residential wine cellar coolers for home wine cellars.

Most modern wine rooms incorporate a wall-mounted wine cooler because it's convenient. For modern wine closets and walk-in wine cellars, there are wine cabinet coolers  or cabinet cooling systems available. There's a wine cooling unit for you, you just have to assess your preferences and cellar needs.

What is the best wine cellar cooling unit?

We've listed the top 3 best wine cellar cooling system brands who makes the best wine cellar cooling unit. These are WhisperKOOL, Breezaire, and CellarCool. 

WhisperKOOL

WhisperKOOL wine cellar refrigeration units are crafted with top-quality and innovative systems to make sure you have perfect and consistent wine cellar temperature and humidity control.

Check out all WhisperKOOL products here: WhisperKOOL

Breezaire

If you're a wine collector or enthusiast with a large collection of different types of wines, Breezaire wine cellar cooling systems are the way to go!

Check out all our Breezaire products here: Breezaire

• Adjustable Temperature
• Automatic Humidity Control
• Vibration Control
• Ultra-Quiet Operation
• Attractive Metal Cabinet
• Ease of Installation
• Uncompromising Quality
• Breezaire Sentry III Settings

CellarCool