How To Convert A Closet To A Mini Wine Cellar

Anyone passionate about wine usually starts to collect it and as their wine collection grows they must begin looking for a place to store a wine collection.

It is easy to convert a closet into a mini wine cellar to house your growing wine collection.

Before you begin building your mini wine closet consider the position of the closet in relation to the rest of the house or apartment.

Avoid converting a closet located against an outside wall into a wine cellar. From season to season the other walls of your home may be subject to wide temperature fluctuations. 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. A gradual change of a few degrees between from winter to summer won't matter. A similar change each day will certainly cause harm to your wines by ageing them too quickly.

The major rule when you are storing your wine is to avoid wide fluctuations in temperature. Damage of this type will be evident immediately from the stickiness that often forms around the capsule. Over time, the continued expansion then contraction of the wine will damage the integrity of the cork. It's just like having the cork pulled and replaced every day. When this occurs, tiny quantities of wine may be pushed out along the edge of the cork – between the cork and the neck of the bottle – 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 gracefully, enabling it to fully develop as the winemaker intended. Higher temperatures age wine more rapidly and cooler temperatures slow the ageing process. The damage done to your wine will be irreversible if it is stored at a temperature above 82ºF for even a month.

Maybe the hardest part of building a wine cellar closet is finding other locations to store what is already in the closet!! Don't hesitate … remove all the present contents (give away / auction / move them) and begin with an empty closet!

Wine racks can be purchased quite inexpensively from a hardware store, online retailer or storage shop and you'll have a simple but very effective mini wine cellar.

Wine rack designs vary in bottle density; price variations have more to do with aesthetics than efficiency.

Individual racks makes it easy to select bottles. If you place racks against only one wall of the closet you should still have space available on the floor or shelves to store wines purchased by the case … these wines should remain strored in their cartons.