What Are Some Of The Qualities of Good Wine Cellars?
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Filed under Wine Cellars
A wine storage facility normally built underground for storing wines in bottles and barrels in, is what we all know as a wine cellar. To ensure that the stored wine remains fresh even after many years of storage, the cellar should have favorable environmental factors. This means that the temperature and humidity of the cellar have to be regulated at levels that will not affect the quality of the wine.
When a wine cellar is built above the ground, it is referred to as a wine room while those that contain less than 500 bottles are referred to as wine closets. Building a wine cellar mainly ensures that wine is protected from heat and light, which will compromise the quality of the wine. Wine is a perishable beverage that should be protected from fluctuating temperatures, heat and light as well as vibrations and light. Wines that are stored in wine cellars maintain their freshness over a period of time and even become better in complexity, flavor and its aroma.
For a wine cellar to be rated as worthy, it should be able to keep the wine in its original freshness and also improve its quality. The right temperature in a wine cellar should range from 5-18 degrees Celsius and have very few variations. If the temperature changes, it should change by less than 10 degrees Celsius or less. This temperature level was arrived at because caves in France where wines used to be kept ranged around that temperature.
If the temperature is higher than 18 degrees Celcius, the wine will mature too fast and cause the wine to lack some qualities of a well-matured wine. If a wine has matured too fast, it will taste like vinegar as opposed to regular wines that have a sweet and savory taste.
A wine cellar can be actively cooled or passively cooled. Proper insulation and professional work should be done if a wine cellar is to have active cooling systems. These cooling systems need to be installed in order to ensure that the humidity and temperature of a wine cellar are monitored. Most people do not use this type of cooling system unless the weather is too hot. Areas that are naturally very cools are the best areas to have a passively cooled wine cellar. Passive cooling systems do not require any energy to operate and are normally in the basement of a house. They are therefore cheaper albeit unreliable sometimes.
Skybar Wine System
Designing Wine Cellars
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Filed under Wine Cellars
Wine Cellars Dedicated to Storing Wine
Most restaurants with an extensive wine collection and avid collectors, have dedicated wine cellars in which to store their wine. While many may think that a room below the building’s grade will adequately serve the purpose, those who collect rare and often expensive bottles understand the importance of proper construction of wine cellars in protecting the valuable contents.
Wine’s health can be affected by different factors, all taken into consideration in designing wine cellars, such as humidity, temperature and infiltrating light from windows. Air circulating fans are also often designed into wine cellars to help maintain a constant temperature and humidity level throughout the entire area. Additionally, the racks used to hold the bottles should be constructed with the health and integrity of the wine in mind instead of the convenience of anyone who may visit the room to find a bottle.
Even wines stored in dark colored bottles should not be exposed to direct sunlight as in addition to the ultraviolet rays; the sunlight can affect the internal temperature of the bottle. Ceiling fans in wine cellars can provide a certain degree of air circulation, but fans that move the air around the room instead of simply blowing from the ceiling to the floor help maintain a more strict environment.
Wine Cellars Location
Another thing that can have an environmental impact on finished wines is vibration and wine cellars located close to railroad tracks or heavily traveled roads may not be the best location for a cellar in which to store expensive wines. If there is no suitable alternate site, the rack can be constructed to absorb most of the vibrations, especially if the floor is transmitting most of the minor movement.
Entry to wine cellars should also be restricted to only responsible individuals to help maintain the organizational structure of the room. In many cases, large wine collections are cataloged and sort by type or by region, but exactly how, is a personal preference. Keeping track of what remains in wine cellars is more important to those that sell the wine than it is to private collectors, but computer software is also available for private use to track their collection.
In any event, it is important to keep the door to wine cellars closed when no one is looking for a bottle of wine to maintain the constant environment in the room. Continuous opening and closing the door can interrupt the stability of the temperature and humidity controls.
