Building a wine cellar at home can be both a challenging and rewarding process that is usually affected most greatly by whether the wine cellar is part of new construction or if it is a remodel of existing space. If your wine cellar project involves building the space from scratch, then you will have one major advantage – access to the bare studs before the sheetrock or greenboard has been installed. This is important because if you plan to control the climate in the cellar space for long-term wine storage, you are going to need a plastic vapor barrier to eliminate moisture condensation in the room. For custom wine cellar projects built from scratch, you will be able to wrap your wall studs and floor/ceiling joists without any hindrances. If you are remodeling an existing space, then you will be dealing with existing wall boards, wiring, existing climate control, and other obstacles present in a finished space. Regardless of which situation you are in, you will need the following to build a custom wine cellar at home:

• 4 9/16″ or 6 9/16″ wall studs wrapped with a vapor barrier
• Moisture resistant wall boards (green board)
• Weather-stripped, tightly sealed exterior grade door
• A cooling system that is sized properly for your space and that takes into consideration the traffic in the space (size up your wine cooling system for high volume traffic)

Once you have those items in place, the rest of your custom wine cellar build is a matter of personal taste and preference. You will end up choosing wall finish, flooring, lighting, wine racking, wine cellar décor, and accessories that complement your custom wine cellar as well as the types of wine you enjoy the most. You can learn more in depth wine cellar building techniques by visiting our custom wine cellar design guide.

This is a question we hear a lot. In most cases, yes, especially if the wine cellar is built and insulated properly and contains high quality amenities such as a wine cellar door, a quality cooling system, and attractive racking. Even if you do not splurge for the absolute best of everything, over the last 20 years custom wine cellars have taken a steady spot in the top five specialty items that home buyers are seeking. Other items on the list include swimming pools, home theaters, radiant heated floors, and gourmet kitchen appliances – all of which increase the value of your home.

Basements are ideal for wine storage because they are generally below grade where the temperature does not fluctuate as much as the top floors and out of the path of direct sunlight. In many parts of the country wine can be “passively” cooled due to the advantageous conditions that exist all on their own.

An inexpensive hygrometer left in your basement will give you an instant snapshot of the temperature and humidity levels. If your basement does not naturally fluctuate more than +/- 5 degrees Fahrenheit during the course of a year and the humidity level is in the neighborhood of 50%-70% then by golly you’ve got yourself a wine cellar. If not, you are going to want to “actively” cool your wine cellar space using conventional construction and cooling methods that will transform the environment from less-than-ideal into long term storage friendly surroundings.

The list of requirements for creating a custom-built wine cellar vary depending on whether you plan to actively cool your wine using a wine room cooling system. If you are not going to cool your wine, then you just need custom wine racks or custom wine storage shelves to organize your wine and “get it off the floor.” Everything aside from that is strictly preference, with as much or little effort as you like going into the flooring, lighting, wall coverings, doors, and windows.

If you are going to actively cool the room, then the requirements get more serious since your wine room is going to behave like a big walk-in refrigerator. For starters this will require a deliberate approach in terms of custom cellar design and the construction of the space. You will add insulation to the spaces between wall studs, then wrap the entire room in a 3-5ml plastic sheet called a vapor barrier. After that you will add moisture resistant greenboard to create your wall and ceiling panels and finish off with appropriate lighting, cooling system, humidity controller (if necessary) and, lastly, a quality exterior grade wine cellar door that will seal tightly in order to keep the cold in.

There is no specific size requirement for storing wine. If you are going to create an actively cooled custom wine cellar space, the smallest cooling systems on the market are going to be rated for about 300 cubic feet – appropriate for cellars as small as 4′ x 4′ (think small closet). These days, there are so many custom wine rack options available that you can cram a lot of wine into even the smallest space. With modern design techniques, a 4’x4′ space could literally hold hundreds of bottles of wine. So, the question maybe shouldn’t be “how big should my wine cellar be?” but “how many bottles do I want to be able to store?” and “how do I intend to keep the wine cool?” and go from there.

Custom wine cellars perform best when humidity is kept at a constant level year after year. Popular theory suggests wine will age best in 65%-75% humidity. Humidity in a wine cellar is governed by several factors. One is the humidity of the surrounding environment. If the location of your wine room is in a geographical area of the world that is naturally humid or naturally dry, then the humidity in your wine room will reflect that. Consequently, controlling humidity in wine cellars is a question of either adding moisture to raise humidity, or doing the opposite by removing moisture to lower it. It is also important to understand that humidity is affected by temperature. As air cools, its relative humidity goes up. Therefore, if you live in an area with say, 50% natural humidity at 70°F, the air in your 55°F wine cellar will have higher humidity levels relative to its surroundings.

The easiest way to discover what the natural humidity in your custom wine room is to procure a hygrometer, which measures water density in the air. If after measuring you decide you need to add moisture in order to reach your ideal humidity, the next step is to add a room humidifier that will add moisture (like this one from Wine Guardian) or to purchase a wine cellar cooling system that has a humidifying function (like this one from WhisperKOOL). If on the other hand your humidity levels are too high, you’ll want to use a cooling system that will remove moisture from the air, condense it into liquid, then drain it away – typically through a small drain line that runs out from the cooling system. Fine tuning humidity levels in wine rooms can take a little practice and trial and error. Needing to remove humidity is much more prevalent than the alternative, and all cooling systems (even your home’s HVAC system) naturally remove and condense moisture from the interior space. Consult with a wine cellar cooling unit specialist for more information about your needs.

Insulating a custom cellar is no different than insulating any space in your home. Usually, insulation is installed between wall studs and floor/ceiling joists in the form of fiberglass rolls, rigid foam batting or blown in loose fiberglass clumps. In addition, climate-controlled wine cellars require plastic sheeting known as a vapor barrier that eliminates moisture condensing between the “warm” outside and the “cool” inside air.

In addition to traditional insulation, any doors and/or windows in your custom wine cellar must be exterior grade with insulated double or triple pane glass. Remember, an actively cooled wine cellar behaves like a big walk-in refrigerator. Consequently, proper insulation is key to properly aging wine and minimizing wear and tear on your (likely) expensive cooling system.

For long-term storage of fine wines, it is not advisable to store at room temperature (assuming that means about 70°F). In general, collectible red wine requires long-term temperatures of about 55°F to optimize the slow and steady chemical reactions going on inside the bottle. The warmer a bottle of wine is stored at, the faster that chemical reaction takes place, and the “shallower” the wine’s profile will become. In extreme circumstances, where wine is left in temperatures way above room temperature, the wine literally “cooks” in the bottle due to the too-rapid transformations of these chemicals. While white wine is less sought after by collectors due to the more limited need to age, many will benefit from added time in the bottle. Recommended temperatures for storing white wine or champagnes are 45° to 50°.

Now, this information is not meant to rule out storing all wine at room temperature. It all comes down to when you want to open and enjoy. If you buy red wine with no intention of storing it for long, then by all means store it at room temperature. Just chill the bottle to around 65° before serving and have at it. The same goes for white wine that you are “turning over” in a short amount of time. Since most wine is consumed a short time after purchase, this describes more wine buyers than the long-term scenarios discussed here.