Spoken like someone who has nothing to lose.
I really should have been clearer in my response.
Iām ok with a 5-7 degree temp differential over a six month period but I wish it were 54-61 degrees
I hate that couple of month period in summer where it is around 64-65 degrees. But this is just me.
Joe, any chance of adding a small a/c to your cellar. (Sorry if you answered this question before.)
I certainly can do that. I initially designed the cellar to allow for a cooling unit but wanted to see if it could work passively. Iām still on the fence though about it. $2500-$3000 for five degrees?
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A small window ac would take the edge off. Aāla Kenmore, even without the hack. A few hundred $
Have considered this myself in the past for my passive cellar, but have decided itās not worth the work to cut out a hole and install a sill to hold it and run power into that part of my crawlspace. Reaches 66/67 in late summer for a few weeks. Mid/high 50ās most of the year.
Using it for 11 years now and anything coming out is as pristine (other than labels) as my active cellar, including CNdPās (no addāl Brett).
I wonder if just adding a fan would stabilize the temperature more by circulating the air.
I actually tried that. It helped a smidge. Then I froze two 5 gallon buckets of water. Placed those on the floor. Ran the fan off the floor. Did this for about two weeks. Changed ice buckets 3-4 days. Dropped the temp about 1 degree
Thatās a lot of work for 1 degree.
Not why I moved to Maine, butā¦
Passive cellar. Thermometer has two sensors, readings from floor and eye-height, the highest level of the rack where I store wines Iām going to drink soon. Been here 20 years. All temperatures fahrenheit (duhhh):
Floor: 42 - 64. Thatās a minimum and maximum over 20 years. Coldest on floor most years about 45, warmest about 60.
Eye level rack: 45 - 68, min/max over 20 years. Coldest usually 50, warmest 66.
Chateau Margaux apparently says that they donāt want storage under 50. Have they ever heard of Glamis Castle?
Iām in the camp that says if you donāt get over 65, youāre fine for long term storage. If your average is, say, 62, your wines will develop a little faster. If itās 48, a little slower.
Iām also in the camp that doesnāt obsess over this, despite the relatively detailed post.
Dan Kravitz
I was also curious about the temperatures in my basement āWine Caveā, so on 6/16/2016 I deployed a Lascar EL-USB-1 temperature data logger set to sample every hour. I live in a suburb of Rochester, NY, less than a mile south of the Lake Ontario shore. My wine is kept in a utility closet located in the northeast corner of a deep basement that is approximately 90% subterranean. The device was placed about chest high in one of my racks. Average temperature was 63.9F, high 71, low 57. The week of 71 readings occurred while we were away in September with household thermostat set higher than usual. The week of low temperatures coincided with another week away from 2/25-3/4.
My passive cellar (about 3/4 underground) ranges from 48-62 over the seasons. I donāt think Iāve ever lost a bottle because of poor storage. Most of the wines are binned, a small amount in original wood cases.
DoctorJay
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I have had a passive crawl space cellar for 20 years. the temps vary from 55-63. I have been very happy with this arrangement. The only downside is that it offers virtually unlimited storage spaceā¦ not good 
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62 and 63 are impressive passive cellar maximum temperatures! Lucky guys ā¦