Disporre di una vera cantina è indubbiamente il sogno di ogni appassionato di vini, purtroppo però nelle case di oggi non sempre è possibile.
Without a doubt, preparing a true wine cellar is the dream of every wine enthusiast, but unfortunately in today’s houses it isn’t always possible. Luckily, there are alternate solutions that allow us to cultivate our passion anyway.
If you are fortunate enough to be able to make a dedicated wine storage room, you can try to recreate inside your house—as much as is possible—the conditions best suited to the conservation of wine. Most importantly, the space should contain nothing but wine bottles (or maybe, if necessary, some jars of preserves)—stinky cheeses and cured meats, just like shoes and other things, can emit odors that can effect your wines. For the same reason, if you want to paint the room before setting up your storage, you must allow the paint to dry completely and the room to air out thoroughly—otherwise the odor will penetrate the glass and pass into the bottles, ruining the taste.
To ensure the correct temperature is maintained, you can install a good air-conditioning unit (remember, the temperature should be 10-15° c or 50-60° f). The walls and door should be well insulated (polystyrene works well). If there is heat, it should be turned off. To control the humidity level, you can keep a container full of water on the floor in the middle of the room (and remember, the humidity should be 65-70%). Make sure all windows and light sources are shaded, and only use low-wattage lamps (which should also be shaded).
Good. Now that the room is ready, let’s think about how to store our bottles. There are beautiful terracotta shelves available, but they are heavy, inflexible, and expensive. Wire shelves are also available. These are more economical, but have the flaw of being light, unstable, and too sensitive to vibrations and drastic changes in temperature. We recommend that you store the bottles on their sides, or gently inclined, on practical and functional wood racks (wood being the material that ensures the most constant stability and temperature). Such racks are readily available in any home improvement center.
Since they are aesthetically pleasing, wood racks can also be used by those who lack dedicated wine storage and must keep their bottles “in view.” In this case, it is important to pick a place in the house that offers the best conditions possible—it should be cool, have low light, and be far from any draft. Be careful not to place wine racks against walls in which hot water or heating pipes are found…and never, ever put them in the kitchen! The presence of electronic appliances, like a refrigerator or a ventilation hood, and worse yet, the burners on your stove, mean that the kitchen subject to sounds, vibrations, and frequent rapid changes in temperature. As a result, it is a room poorly suited for storing wine.
If you have no place in your house that fits these descriptions, the only solution is to opt for a wine refrigerator.
