When you are passionate about wine you begin collecting it … and when you begin collecting it you need a place to store it.
A closet can easily be turned into a mini wine cellar to store your growing wine collection.
Before you construct your wine cellar consider the position of the closet in relation to the rest of the house.
It is preferable to not turn a closet built against an outside wall into a wine cellar. The outside walls of your house or apartment can be subject to wide fluctuations in temperature. Ideally, choose an internal closet where your wine will be able to be stored at a more constant temperature.
The degree and the speed of any change in temperature are critical elements in successfully storing and aging wine. The gradual change of a just a few degrees between summer and winter doesn't matter. The same change each day will harm your wines by ageing them too rapidly.
A major rule when storing wine is to avoid large (or quick) temperature changes. You'll be aware of this damage straight away from the sticky deposit that often forms around the capsule. Over a period of time the continual contraction and expansion of the wine will damage the integrity of the cork. It's similar to having the cork pulled in and out again every day. When this happens, minute quantities of wine may be pushed out along the edge of the cork (between the cork and the bottle neck) allowing air to seep back in. Once air comes in contact with your wine the irreversible process of oxidation will begin and your wine will be ruined.
At 55º to 58ºF the wine will age as the winemaker intended, enabling it to fully develop. Higher temperatures will age wine more rapidly and cooler temperatures will slow the ageing process. Irreversible damage will occur if your wine is stored at a temperature above 82ºF for a month or more.
The most difficult part of creating a wine cellar in a closet can be finding other places to store the original contents of the closet! Don't hesitate ... remove all the present contents (give away / auction / move them) and start with an empty closet!
Buy inexpensive wine racks from a hardware store, online retailer or storage shop and you'll have an easy and very effective mini wine cellar.
Wine rack designs vary in bottle density; price variations have more to do with appearance than efficiency.
Individual racking is generally thought to be the most convenient way of storing and selecting your bottles. If you place racks against only one wall of the closet you may still have floor or shelf space available for wines that you purchase by the case.
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