Underground advice: what kind of cellar do you need for storing wines? A fashionable accessory or something utilitarian? Or is that a silly question in the Hamptons?
Underground Advice
A cellar might be an underground space, but I’ve seen some wine cellars lately that are at least figuratively over the top. Limestone floors, polished mahogany racks, grape themed artwork and temperature and humidity controls that could power a research laboratory are typical. This is the Hamptons, after all. The cellars I refer to are in, or under, expensive spec houses and seem to be a fashionable accessory like outdoor fireplaces, his and her bathroom suites and the extra catering kitchen.
I know only a handful of people who could really benefit from this sort of elaborate cellar. Most of us have more need for easy, short-term storage than for perfect, long-term aging facilities. It is rare these days to come across a cellar filled with bottles gently resting for decades, what the British call “laying down” wines.
How much wine storage do most of us need, and how much money should we spend? By most of us, I mean wine drinkers rather than wine collectors—and let’s forget about wine snobs. Most wines we buy are intended to be consumed while young, within, say, four or five years after they are released. These everyday wines will generally not improve with age. Seriously aging them will at best be a silly pretension, and at worst result in over- the-hill bottles.
A smaller number of wines will certainly mellow and improve with time, and a few—great Bordeaux wines particularly—even require it. But this is a small fraction of wines produced around the world, and they tend to be the most expensive. I have more frequently opened a bottle from my cellar that was past its prime than I have a bottle that was too young.
For all practical purposes, a little reasonable care is as good as a dedicated room and all that expensive equipment. Most importantly, until you are ready to drink a bottle, it should be stored at a fairly constant temperature. Ideally, this is in the 50 to 60 degree range, but more important than the exact temperature is encouraging constancy and avoiding extremes. Humidity levels of about 70 percent help keep corks from drying out, but this is a consideration only over long periods. If you are storing wines for a few years, it shouldn’t make a difference. Odors can seep into the cork, but that is a minor consideration unless you live above a restaurant kitchen. Light and vibration can make a difference. That’s why the warm, vibrating space on top of your fridge is a really terrible choice. Remember that wine is a living substance.
Most houses here have basements, so I suggest you find a location not too close to the furnace and out of traffic pattern and set up some wine racks. (I like Ikea’s sturdy, attractive and cheap wine shelves.) Keep the bottles on their sides so the cork stays moist. Screwtop bottles should be stored standing up.
As long as your storage environment is stable, don’t worry about it. Focus instead on something that can make a tremendous difference in your enjoyment: serving your wines at the correct temperature. Every wine has an optimal temperature for drinking that best brings out its qualities, and it may be cooler or warmer than the environment where it was stored. A wine cellar, by the way, will not increase the value of your home. The outdoor fireplace, an extra bathroom, or his and her closets have more clout with homebuyers.
