Building a custom wine room is all about controlling temperature and humidity levels and creating a dedicated space for storing and aging wines for a prolonged period of time.
Traditional Residential Wine Room in Baltimore, Maryland
A wine room that is designed and built properly should consistently maintain the ideal climate conditions for optimum wine storage, and efficiently organize and manage wine collections.
The Creative Minds Behind this Residential Wine Room Project
This recently completed Baltimore, Maryland, residential wine room project shows how bringing together the right components can create a stunning wine cellar space that not only maximizes total bottle capacity but also provides optimum environmental conditions for wine storage.
About Coastal Custom Wine Cellars
Coastal Custom Wine Cellars
Coastal Custom Wine Cellars provides their clients with a free 3-dimensional design package that includes different views and elevations of the proposed wine cellar design.
A 3D illustration shows in detail how every component ties together, and allows the client to make design modifications before green-lighting the project.
Coastal Custom Wine Cellars is a full-service designer, builder, and installer of custom wine cellars. The company also supplies all components of residential and commercial wine cellars, such as climate control systems, wine racking systems, flooring products, and wine cellar entry doors.
Design Specifications for this Custom Wine Cellar
All wine-racking components come in double-deep configurations, to increase the overall bottle capacity of the custom wine cellar. Various wine storage and display solutions were utilized to create a wine storage space that has a total storage capacity of 4,010 wine bottles.
All wine racks were made from architectural grade Heart Redwood, with a satin lacquer topcoat. Additionally, all components rest on a 1 ½” toe-kick that raises the bottles off the floor, protecting them against breakage.
Single bottle storage wine racks with a high reveal display row went around the perimeter of the Baltimore custom wine cellar.
A high-reveal wine display holds bottles at an angle, with the labels facing the front, providing ease of bottle recognition and identification. Aside from the individual cubbyholes for 750 ml wine bottles, the Coastal team also included single bottle openings that can accommodate a total of 136 magnums (or 1.5L).
True radius curved corners are installed in corner areas, in order to maximize every space available in the Baltimore, Maryland, residential wine room. Corner wine racks with a true radius curve provide a smooth transition between walls. Since true radius curved corners are constructed from a single piece of solid wood, they do not exhibit an angled or segmented appearance.
This custom wine cellar features a stunning 66-inch long waterfall display. This custom wine racking provides a cascading appearance that stair steps down to a small tabletop, which can function as a work area for serving or decanting wines. Additional shelves are provided below the tabletop, for storing wine bottles or other wine accoutrements.
Proper wine storage is never complete without the presence of wine racking systems that promote the ideal bottle placement and presentation of wine bottles during storage. Modern wine racks in wood and metal come in different styles and bottle capacities, that can be customized to accommodate a range of storage needs and aesthetic choices of clients.
Label Ladder Wine Racks
For wine collectors who want to maximize wine storage capacity without sacrificing style, Wine Cellar Specialist’s Label Ladder wine racks are the best wine storage option!
This modern racking system is constructed from metal components that are built to last.
Label Ladder wine racking solutions provide a floor-to-ceiling steel frame that can be configured to single, double, or triple-bottle depths.
As with all metal wine racks, Label Ladder creates a sleek and sophisticated appearance, befitting contemporary-themed wine cellars.
Metal-based wine racks offer infinite design possibilities that allow for optimal use of storage space. They are the ideal storage option for wine geeks who have limited room for expanding their collection.
The Essence of Label Ladder Wine Racks
Label Ladder wine racks provide flexibility in installation options because they are affixed to the floor and ceiling using high-quality steel support beams. This setup allows the Label Ladder to be versatile in terms of its location. The position of this racking solution is not confined within a specific wall space, as it can be positioned in front of glass walls or in the middle of the room.
Each of the stainless steel support beams that hold up the Label Ladder wine racking solution consists of precision-cut wooden blocks that can be made out of the best wood material, such as maple, walnut, zebrawood, padouk, silver oak, wenge, and ebony. The steel rods are placed between the blocks of wood.
Wine lovers and wine collectors alike know how important it is to store wine in the right conditions, which preserves its quality. The basic necessities for proper wine storage include a well-built custom wine cellar in Orange County, CA and the right wine cellar cooling system. Without these two things, it is very difficult to make sure that wine ages tastefully.
When it comes to wine storage, there are a few common problems that must be solved in order to keep wines at their best. Here are a few of the most common issues concerning wine storage:
1. Exposure to Light
Wine should not be exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light. UV light damages wine by destroying the organic compounds in it. Consequently, the flavor of the wine is ruined. Wines should be kept in a room that is dark and far away from any UV light source. This is also the rationale behind dark colored wine bottles.
To protect your wines from UV light, you should first make sure that your custom wine cellar is located away from sunlight and also avoid the use of fluorescent lights inside the wine storage room. Some people keep their wines openly in the kitchen. This is a bad idea, because kitchens usually have fluorescent lights all around.
2. Too Much or Too Little Humidity
Both the increase and the decrease in the level of humidity is detrimental to the quality of your wines. The humidity inside a custom wine cellar in California should be kept within 60% to 70%. When the wine storage room becomes too humid, wine labels can be damaged, and mold and mildew can also form. Consequently, your wines can get contaminated. On the other hand, if the humidity drops, the wine corks can shrink and cause air to get inside the wine bottle, ruining the wine.
This is the reason most wine bottles these days no longer use the traditional cork seal, but instead have used synthetic corks and screw tops. The traditional cork seals are found to be ineffective in keeping wine bottles closed and protecting wine.
To keep the quality of your wines, the wine corks should be kept moist. The simple solution is to keep the wine bottles lying sideways on the custom wine racks. This position not only saves space, but also makes sure that the corks are moist and will not shrink. A good wine cellar refrigeration unit is also needed so that the humidity in the wine storage room is kept at the ideal range, with minimal to no fluctuations.
3. Fluctuating Temperature
The most important variable in storing wines is temperature. Although sources vary on the exact temperature to store wines, most agree that it is somewhere between 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, there should be no fluctuations in the temperature level. Keeping the temperature from fluctuating is a common problem. Primarily because of changing weather, keeping the temperature in the ideal range requires extra effort.
Of course, a quality wine cellar refrigeration system is the best solution to this. If you do not have a wine cellar with a cooling unit, then consider getting a wine fridge. Wine fridges or wine chillers are not cheap either, but they make a good, less expensive alternative. Not only will a wine fridge manage temperature, it will also control the humidity, and protect your wines from ultraviolet light.
In March of 2012, International Wine Accessories took on a custom wine cellar project. With the help of expert designer Jimmy Simmons, it was completed it just two short months. Building it quickly, while maintaining the balance between appeal and function, is important for a company like Bella Vita Wine Cellars.
The cellar was constructed with black-finished metal wine-racks, giving the cellar a sleek, refined touch. The racks were not only aesthetically appealing, they also had a unique aspect ideal for this specific project – they were earthquake proof.
This was achieved by attaching straps to the racks. In the event of an earthquake, they would hold the bottles safe. The racks were also 3 bottles deep to maximize the cellar’s storage capacity. Once installed, the racks could hold up to 936 bottles of various shapes and sizes.
All of these wines would be kept in ideal wine conditions as well, thanks to the CellarPro 3200VSi cooling unit put in. Though the unit could be used for any wine cellar, it was ideal for this project in particular.
This is because the unit would be taking air from outside, where random debris could get sucked into it and clog it, ultimately breaking the cooling unit down. However, the CellarPro came with its own filtration system to deal with just such a thing.
It could filter the debris and continue to function smoothly – something unique to CellarPro cooling units.
In order for all of this to be put in, the beginning of the project required hard work. The cellar was originally a spare basement room used to store pool supplies. It required an airtight wall to be built, as well as a door.
Once that was achieved, the racks were installed and the cooling unit placed against the wall with the door. The door was also given a combination lock for optimum security.
To learn about the project in greater detail, click here:
Hi! My name is Jerry Wilson, I’m the founder of Coastal Custom Wine Cellars. I’d like to take you on a tour of one of our 3-dimensional design packages for this new custom wine cellar in St. Louis, Missouri.
3D Plan of This Beautiful Custom Wine Cellar in St. Louis
This is a recent project that we completed in July 2012. Our client was looking for maximum capacity and a kind of fusion of modern and traditional wine cellar appearances.
It is a difficult thing to do with wood, making it contemporary, but to add to the characteristics of the custom wine cellar, we included, as you’ll see in the pictures that I will share here with you, a full glass, a seamless glass, fixed wall on entry for a really stunning visual as well.
Features of This Custom Wine Cellar
The walls are labeled, elevations A and B, and here’s the front wall, which is a fixed glass. Elevations B are the left side and
Coastal Custom Wine Cellars
right side walls, and they are mirror images of each other. We kept clean, simple balance and symmetry in this wine room.
We did not want to do anything too over the top as we are trying to keep the dimensions simple and with a modern appearance.
Single bottle storage above a high reveal display row which is illuminated by LED lighting, and then we have some bulk storage in the diamond areas here. The back wall is simple, with just single bottle storage and a high-reveal display, and as you can see in the 3D visuals, you get a better idea of how everything comes together.
CellarPro Wine Cooling Unit
Notice this left column here and this right side column, these are label forward horizontal displays, and it added a nice touch from as far as the visual from outside of the custom wine cellar. This wine cellar being just 7 feet by 7 feet with a 7-foot height, can house 926 bottles.
We utilized the CellarPro 4200 wine cellar refrigeration unit, and we used some cooperage from oak barrel wine barrels from Napa Valley. I’ll show some pictures of that as well.