Wine cellars on display become art

Nothing quite says luxury like a beautifully designed wine cellar.

“Wine cellars have become very popular over the past 10 years, with wine collecting becoming not only a hobby, but an investment,” says Todd Senft, owner of The Cellar, a wine cellar company, based in Vancouver, that takes on projects across Alberta and British Columbia.

Senft is passionate about the preservation of wine and notes a few design trends that have recently unfolded. Most notably, instead of being tucked away in a darkened and enclosed room in a corner of the basement, wine cellars are becoming a prominent element of a home’s design and floor plan. Prominent “on display” locations in high traffic areas of the home finished with plenty of glass, as well as tasting rooms, top the design must-have lists for owners of both recreation homes and permanent residences.

“Showing the collection to guests is a high priority for serious collectors; hence the demand for lots of glass, properly placed accent lighting and attractive finishes inside,” says Senft, who designs cellars for clients in diverse climates from vacation homes in B.C.’s Okanagan region to ski chalets in Whistler and Canmore.

One of the most challenging, yet beautiful projects The Cellar recently completed was a custom cellar with two glass walls and a glass ceiling, allowing viewing from above — a two-storey open riser staircase rose beside the glass floor offering views from every angle into the cellar below.

High-end custom homebuilder Alloy Homes has also seen an increased demand for wine cellars.

“In our higher end homes, clients typically request a dedicated wine room and tasting area. In slightly more modest homes, it’s quite often an integrated wine fridge. Of course, a lot of it is dependent on the individual client’s tastes,” says Christopher Lemke of Alloy Homes, noting that a small under-counter wine fridge in the kitchen has now become an expected standard feature, regardless of whether there is a more elaborate dedicated wine room elsewhere in the home.

In a recent new build custom-designed home in the century-old upscale community of Glenora in Edmonton, Alloy Homes created a stunning glassed-in cellar in the home’s lower level. Incorporating a wine cellar was an important element of the home’s overall esthetic. Entertaining, beauty, art, nature and wellness were the overarching design themes.

“The wine cellar just went hand-in-hand with that,” says Lemke, noting that the cellar was designed to be fully integrated into the home’s larger architectural concept and to be consistent with the detailing.

Of course, when it comes to wine cellar design, it’s not just about creating a beautiful, artful room; a wine cellar is first and foremost a functional space. That said, there are a range of considerations to ponder before beginning the design, starting with how the room will be used. ?Are you a serious collector or will the room be used to house wine that will be consumed regularly? How many bottles will you need to house and what kinds of bottles (there are a wide range of bottle shapes and sizes)? Is this a vacation home? Will you need to have remote ability to control the room’s elements?

Richard Harvey, co-owner of Metrovino Fine Wines, an independent wine store in Calgary’s Beltline district, notes that it’s important to implement three conditions in a wine cellar for optimum wine storage — moderate temperature, adequate humidity, plus low light or dark conditions.

“Simply put, a temperature range of between 13 C and 18 C is perfectly fine. Cooler, a wine ages slower; warmer, it ages faster, but too warm risks making a wine mature quickly, but in a less desirable way,” he says.

As for humidity, ideally it should range between 50 and 75 per cent.

“But, in a dry climate, temperature and proper horizontal bottle storage are in my opinion more important than humidity,” he says.

UV light can damage a wine through a phenomenon called “light-strike,” says Harvey. “Wine on display is likely suffering from a failure on all three accounts, unless in an air-conditioned, (tinted) glassed-in cabinet,” he says.

The Cellar’s Todd Senft adds that the humidity, temperature and amount of UV exposure can change depending on where in the home the wine cellar is located.

“But our specifically designed Cavea Glass system is the only glass system developed so far for the sole purpose of protecting wine,” he says, noting that it can be integrated into cellars with custom-designed millwork.

So how much does a luxurious wine cellar cost?

“A standard one-door unit, complete with cooling system, interior finishing, shelves, pegs and glass with room for 100 bottles starts at $30,000. From there, the sky is the limit,” says Senft.

Tips for starting a wine collection

If you’re thinking about starting a wine collection, here are a few tips from Richard Harvey, the owner of Metrovino Fine Wines, an independent wine shop in Calgary’s Beltline district.

• Try lots of different wines and buy the ones that you like. Seek advice from a professional and keep trying wines. “Many famous wines are prohibitively priced, but there are thousands of wines, producers, regions, grape varieties out there to be discovered at accessible prices,” says Harvey.
• Buy more than one bottle. “Laying multiple bottles of the same wine down allows you to follow its evolution with age. The modest ideal would be to buy three bottles of a wine that you like. In a perfect world, a dozen would be better, but obviously there may be limits on pricing and availability,” says Harvey.
• When it comes to wine storage, keep bottles on their sides. “While there is an extensive variety of closures for wine bottles out there, natural wooden corks necessitate that they be kept on their sides to keep the cork fully expanded and a tight seal on the bottle,” says Harvey. Other more modern-style corks, made from synthetic material or glass and screw caps (Stelvin Closures) are also best kept on their sides.
• Organization is key. Make sure that your cellar has enough space, so that you can find that particular bottle when you want it.
• When it comes to custom-built shelving, keep materials natural, not stained or varnished, and make sure that your builder has experience. “You don’t want any aromas that could possibly impart a chemical note to any classic cork-closure wines,” says Harvey, adding that a frequent mistake of designing beautiful shelving is that it fails to accommodate the wide range of bottle sizes and shapes.
• Ensure proper storage in a quiet, dark, stably-cool (between 13C and 18 C) and adequately humid (between 50 to 75 per cent) closet. “I have a cupboard in the naturally cool basement of my very old house. But then, I’m a consumer, not a collector,” he says, with a laugh.