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.

Avoid converting a closet against an outside wall into a wine cellar. The outside walls of your house or apartment can be subject to wide fluctuations in temperature. Choose an internal closet where your wine can be stored in a more stable atmosphere.

The degree and the speed of the temperature change are critical to successfully storing and aging wine. A gradual change of a few degrees between summer and winter won’t matter. The same change each day will harm your wines by ageing them too rapidly.

The most important rule when storing wine is to avoid large temperature changes or fluctuations. You’ll notice damage of this nature straight away from the sticky deposit that often forms around the capsule. Over time the continual expansion and contraction of the wine will damage the integrity of the cork. It’s like 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 the air is in contact with your wine the irreversible process of oxidation begins and your wine is ruined.

At 55º to 58ºF the wine will age properly, enabling it to fully develop. Higher temperatures will age wine more rapidly and cooler temperatures will slow down the ageing process. Irreversible damage will be done if your wine is kept at a temperature above 82ºF for even a month.

The most difficult part of converting a closet to a wine cellar can be finding other places to store the original contents of the closet! Be ruthless … sell / give away / move all the present contents and start with a blank slate!

Purchase some inexpensive wine racks from a hardware store, online retailer or storage shop and you’ll have a simple but very effective mini wine cellar.

Wine rack designs will vary in bottle density; Price variations are more to do with aesthetics than efficiency.

Individual racking is the most convenient for selecting bottles. If you have 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

A wine cellar is a storage area for wine in barrels or bottles and is normally built underground. It is a necessity in a quality wine cellar to provide a favorable environment to ensure that the wines kept there remain in a fresh state even after many years cellaring. This means that the temperature and humidity of the cellar have to be regulated at levels that will allow the wines to age slowly and develop complexity.

If a cellar is built above the ground, it could better be described as a wine room and if it contains less than 500 bottles and is above ground, it could be identified as a wine closet. The main purpose of building a wine cellar is to protect the wine from environmental factors that will compromise the quality of the wine. Factors such as light, high temperature or low humidity will all affect the wine in an adverse way. Wine is a living thing that must be protected from fluctuating temperatures, heat and light as well as vibrations. With proper storage, wine not only maintains its freshness but also improves the quality of its aroma, complexity and flavor.

Therefore, a quality cellar should not only maintain the vibrancy of the wine but also improve it. The right temperature in a cellar should range from 13 to 18 degrees C and it should be free from vibration. If the temperatures change from season to season, it should vary by less than 10 degrees C. For centuries, the French have stored their wines in underground caves at these temperatures and that is how people gauge the level of temperature for wine storage. To ensure that the final product has qualities of a well matured wine, the temperatures should not be higher than 18 degrees C as the wine will mature too fast. Wines that mature too fast will often taste more like vinegar and not have the refined and delightful flavor of a fine wine.

Active or passive describe the cooling system used in the wine cellar. A wine cellar with an active cooling system requires insulation and a vapor barrier installed. A special wine cooling unit is then installed in the wall to ensure that the temperature and humidity are maintained at the correct levels. Many above ground cellars will require a cooling unit to maintain a constant temperature. Geographic areas that are naturally very cool are often suitable for a passively cooled wine cellar. Most underground cellars are passively cooled and frequently a well-constructed and well-insulated basement cellar can be passively cooled. A passive wine cellar requires no energy to operate. They are therefore cheaper to build and run albeit sometime unreliable in extreme weather

The wine store of today sells more than simply bottles of wine. Services and accessories are part of the common offerings as well. Consumers who love wine are looking for a place where they can buy a full entertainment package including glassware, openers, and decorative accessories. Of course a vast selection of the finest wines is a given.

Serious wine sellers offer older vintages with some hefty price tags for the most knowledgeable wine enthusiast. Newer varieties and boutique wines are also a necessity as a new group of wine drinkers enter the scene. Sparkling wines and champagne as well as non-alcoholic versions must also be carried in any well rounded wine shop.

Successful wine stores now stock wine accessories that are both food and non-food related. Food items such as cheese, crackers and other accompaniments are a must. Corkscrews, glassware and other entertainment items are usually carried as well. And you may have noticed, the modern-day wine market has evolved into a gift shop of sorts. If you’re in need of a last minute gift, just drop by the wine shop and you’ll find some remarkable items for sale.

Common services extend well beyond normal store sales. Many wine stores offer wine tasting events, classes wine pairing dinners and other community events. An excellent wine marketer will become and integral part of its surrounding community.

Now, don’t feel left out if your town lacks a local wine shop. While you won’t find community events online, you will find some outstanding wine stores. You can buy wine, gifts and every accessory you can imagine at really great prices. The world wide web offers window shopping at its finest along with a wealth of educational information about wine so that you can enjoy your new interest