With anticipation you draw back the thick heavy door and step inside. Even before your eyes grow accustomed to the dimness, a wave of cool, damp air brings goose bumps to your bare arms. Your nostrils inflate with the heady aroma of redwood and aging wine and your mouth salivates. It's a joy to your senses.......it's your wine cellar. A wine cellar certainly can be pleasurable and beautiful to the eye, yet the true reason for a cellar is a practical one, to store wine. This sounds simple enough you might think as you mentally catalogue where you stash your favorite bottles..two boxes under the bed, six bottles in the fridge and a case on the shelf above the water heater.

Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. Unless you plan on drinking those wines fairly soon, you might need to re-label the case over the water heater as "Vinegar, non vintage". On the other hand, if you are acquiring wine to be enjoyed months or years from now, proper cellaring is paramount. A wine cellar plays a multi functioning role for your collection. Firstly, it houses and protects your wine as it grows and matures. Many factors are involved in the process, such as temperature, humidity, light and vibration to name just a few. The technical aspects are not quite as exciting to think about, but certainly worth the effort.

We have seen many unfortunate cases where someone, wanting to build a cellar, had racking installed in a room, maybe even some type of cooling system, and then wondered why their wine was suffering. So remember, wine racks in a room do not make an operational cellar. Instead, if you're considering a cellar, here are a few technical basics that need to be incorporated. On the subject of temperature, most professionals agree that approximately 55- 60 degrees is ideal. The most important thing to remember is wine loves consistency. If your storage area is 70 degrees in the summer and then drops to 50 in the winter, your wine won't be impressed, and neither will you when you open it in ten years time. Interestingly, nature has been getting it right all these years. The temperature below the frost line is a constant 55 degrees with perfect humidity. So if you happen to live in a castle in France, you can tritely put this article across your eyes and take a nap with peace of mind. Now for the rest of us, read on...

To insure constancy of temperature, a cooling system designed just for wine, will maintain temperature within one degree. This is very different to a standard air conditioner, which allows great variance in temperature. Two aspects that most people are unfamiliar with are the insulation and vapor barriers. Though they lay hidden behind the walls, they are fundamental to creating a completely insular and independent environment. This is where the vapor barrier is crucial, creating such an environment while maintaining the correct humidity. The insulation needs to be a certain R factor so as to form a temperature barrier between the cellar and the big bad world outside. Even the type of insulation is critical, for example, fiberglass insulation has a high water retainment factor, therefore not recommended. Once we were called in to trouble shoot an existing cellar in which fiberglass had accumulated large amounts of water and the ceiling was in danger of collapsing. Now that we've covered a few of the technicals, we can get off our soapbox and get back to the fun stuff. Another role of a wine cellar is to highlight the beauty of your collection. The design aspect is exciting process. Your taste may be traditional or contemporary.

There are wonderful features you can incorporate such as specialized lighting, a tasting tables, antique hardware and artwork. I remember for one client, we added rare century old, ornate copper hinges to add character, and for another, an antique terracotta floor was flown in from France, complete with a cat's paw print imbedded into the stone. That little print was three hundred years old. I wonder what people were drinking then? It's an interesting subject to ponder as you share a glass of your favorite French claret. Another interesting fact to consider is that a cellar will enhance the value of your collection due to perfect conditions that protect fine wine. Also, unlike a modular unit, a custom built in cellar adds to the equity of your home (Fairfield Sampson likes that aspect a lot). Although you may not have the largest basement in the Hamptons, don't despair. With today's technology, a fully operational cellar can be created anywhere...from your dining room or library, to your cooperate space or yacht! So if your case of wine is really sitting above the water heater, you had better finish this article and then remove it faster than a horse at the Hampton Classics!