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Wine Cellar on a Budget

Posted by Amphissa on July 14, 2010 at 13:46:55:
Since I'm new to Wine Asylum (but not new to the Asylum, and very not-new to wine), I thought I'd post a tip for you guys who might be interested in creating a wine cellar capable of maintaining correct temperatures for aging -- on a budget.

Back when I was living in San Francisco, I had easy access to a lot of very high quality wines. In tasting groups, we'd pitch in to buy of cult wines that were available only to the few on mailing lists, or buy cases of great wines at auction. And getting to know winemakers and do barrel tastings at the finest wineries was a bonus.

However, being young and not so rich, I decided I wanted to spend my money on the wine, not a bunch of expensive cooler units, and I certainly could not afford to build a real cellar (since that would have meant buying the flat below me and driving out a little old lady).

My solution -- create the Poor Man's Eurocave/Vinotheque

My first purchase was a refrigerator that did not have a freezer unit built in. Yes, one can buy commercial grade units and spend a lot of money. But I bought a really inexpensive full-size refrigerator-only unit. These are cheaper than standard refrigerators, typically plain white with a single door. At that time, the thing cost me less than $300. They are probably more than that now,, but still FAR less than a Eurocave or Vinotheque type cooler unit.

Then I bought a thermostat control device. There are several to choose from on the market. I selected a Johnson Controls device that has a temperature range of 30 to 80 degrees. These devices have a sensor that is placed inside the refrigerator, with a wire to the controller outside the refrigerator. The refrigerator is plugged into the controller. So, the controller takes over temperature control of the refrigerator.

Third, it is important to maintain some humidity inside the refrigerator. Otherwise, corks can dry out. This is easily solved by simply putting a container of water inside.

Finally, I bought an inexpensive combo thermometer/humidity gauge. About once a week, I'd check the water and the gauge to make sure everything was operating properly.

I put the refrigerator in the garage. As my collection grew, I added a second refrigerator and simply daisy chained it to the first, so a second controller was not required.

Is it pretty? No, you would not want this in your living room, unless you are going for the frat-house gonzo decor. The refrigerators do make noise when they kick on, but so does a Eurocave/Vinotheque.

The shelving is nothing special. The refrigerators come with sturdy metal shelves. At first I was cautious about laying multiple layers of wine bottles on the shelves, but I discovered that I could totally fill the entire available space inside the refrigerator with wine without worry.

I have had two of these refrigerators running for 16 years without incident, without failure. They've maintained my wines at exactly the temperature I've chosen (54 degrees), cycling on reliably.

Advantages
- cost
- volume (more storage capacity per sq inch than wine cooler units)
- reliability

Disadvantages
- not pretty (if your goal is to impress people with a flashy cooler, this ain't it)
- accessibility of bottles (since bottles are layed down in layers on top of each other, it can be a challenge to pull a bottle from the bottom layer

I could certainly afford fancy wine cooler units now, but still prefer to spend the money on wine than on coolers. This remains the absolute best investment I ever made in terms of ROI.

As to whether wine coolers are necessary at all, well, there are those who don't think so. However, if you buy expensive wine that you want to age at a predictable rate, and not risk damage by temperature variations, I consider controlled temperature a necessity. This can be achieved by (1) building a cellar below ground that stays consistently cool, (2) paying for storage at a temperature controlled storage facility, or (3) using some sort of storage unit.

This poor man's solution was the best I could come up with.

If you have other solutions to share, let's hear them.