Wine cellar recommendations?
My husband and I have an older house with a fruit and vegetable room in the basement. We would like to transform this into a wine cellar. There is wooden shelving inside. Also, since most corks are not the old kind, do we need to angle the bottles a certain way if they lay down? Thanks for helping!
You should lay the bottles on their sides. This is not just for keeping the corks moist, although that is also very important (and anything worth cellaring for an extended period of time will have a classic cork closure.) Laying the bottles on their side, while keeping the cork moist, will also allow all sediment that settles out of mixture within the wine to be collected along the side facing the ground. When you remove the bottle, keep that side down and decant it to remove the sediment before drinking.
Also, make sure the humidity in the basement is appropriate for wine storage. It should be approximately 70%. If more, it can mold the corks and spoil your investment (and, more importantly, your drinking!)
Denny Zeitlin’s Wine Cellar
