$80k Wine Cellar

[Tom_G_l_a_s_g_o_w]

I just got a $10k quote to do some stone work that should cost $3k. So I think your $30k wine cellar has seen the same inflation.

$1,300 a square foot for a wine cellar seems a bit high. Wet lab space would be cheaper.

[Demian_Saenz]

We’re planning to finish our walkout basement and I’d like to add what I believe is a small wine cellar 7x7x10 in a nice corner of the basement. That would be the max size.

I reached out to a local wine cellar company in the Boston area and they quoted $80 to $100k for the wine cellar.

Seeing this is my first wine cellar I was expecting a much lower price range. Do wine cellars really cost this much?

At that range I’m probably looking at a DIY cellar with assistance from my general contractor.

Roughly how many bottles?
You may be better off to buy a bunch of CostCo wine refrigerators, and call it a day.

Looking at 500 bottles. Right now I’m sitting on 210 bottles but my Bordeaux deliveries in 2022 will be greater than previous years plus wine lists like Ridge, Ultramarine, and other purchases will probably push me over 325 by the end of 2022.

Shit!! I really need to drink more wine.

I mights still go with 2 large wine fridges.

[Brian_Tuite]

I’m into my cellar for maybe $25k with racking for 1,200 bottles and I built it from scratch underground with a tasting room on the ground level above that. $80k when the basic structure is already in place seems astronomical to me.

[D_Zurcher]

I’m into my cellar for maybe $25k with racking for 1,200 bottles and I built it from scratch underground with a tasting room on the ground level above that. $80k when the basic structure is already in place seems astronomical to me.

Ha! I’d suggest checking out his thread on this Masterpiece! If for no other reason than it is a great read, and is magnificent in every way-

Building a subterranean wine cellar/root cellar

[James_Sanders]

Corner area bounded on two sides by underground walls. Had a carpenter build racks and shelving and then supplemented with some DIY racking from Wine Rack Concepts. We’re in the Pacific Northwest, so passive delivers 55 or below 7-8 months a year. For the warmer months, we use a $250 Kenmore air conditioner for cooling. Though you need to trick it by putting a heat source near the thermostat in order get down to 55 in the warmer months. But when you hear all the horror stories about the fussy, specialty wine cooling units, the Kenmore seems like the way to go.

[Dale_Bowers]

Wow. My space is roughly the same size (7 x 10 x12) . I did do all the work myself, but even including a $4K cooling system, it was way under $10K.

[MChang]

My cellar cost me ~10k for racking and holds more than 30k bottles (it’s just a large unfinished room in a basement). It uses air conditioning for active cooling in the summer and a humidifier in the winter. Temperature regulation is quite good.

[CFu]

That is high-but based on my experience this year the contractors have plenty of work, are turning away work, and can charge what they want to see if the can get it.

I have a good friend who helped with ours. Took over 5 months to complete as there was a lot of wait time for the labor to be available, and waiting on materials.

This is 10’ x 6’ x 9’-racks hold 900 bottles. Can store more up top if we want to. $20k all in.
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Looks nice! I like that it’s an addition to the room.

[Markus_S]

Always get quotes from 3 reputable companies.

Be LUCKY to find 3 contractors that will give you the time of day. Many will not go out to do bids, will not answer their phone, and certainly will not come over unless you bribe them to do so.

[D_Zurcher]

Agreed Charlie-thanks to my friend-I wanted to build a grandiose space under the stairs. That was thwarted by a couple of steel support beams. He suggested transforming a dead corner in a pretty large basement space. He’s smart.

[T_Williams]

That seems outrageous. I built a 12x6 cellar for $10k all in including racking, cooling, and building materials. It isn’t a showpiece, but the fit and finish is far above utilitarian.

I did do all the labor myself. Would have been $20k otherwise.

[Dan_Kravitz]

3 years ago I got an rough estimate from my extremely reliable, honest contractor of ~$75K for an expansion and upgrade to a cottage on my property. I had other things to do, just had her give me a new precise quote: $156K+. More than double in three years.

Dan Kravitz

[Mark_Golodetz]

Corner area bounded on two sides by underground walls. Had a carpenter build racks and shelving and then supplemented with some DIY racking from https://www.winecellarinnovations.com/wine-racks. We’re in the Pacific Northwest, so passive delivers 55 or below 7-8 months a year. For the warmer months, we use a $250 Kenmore air conditioner for cooling. Though you need to trick it by putting a heat source near the thermostat in order get down to 55 in the warmer months. But when you hear all the horror stories about the fussy, specialty wine cooling units, the Kenmore seems like the way to go.

I had a friend who also used an ac unit. The problem was that the unit took away much of the humidity, and although he tried to compensate, I was never entirely convinced that the wines had evolved well. In one tasting, six out of eleven wines were way more advanced than they should have been.

[Chris_Crutchfield]

My cellar cost me ~10k for racking and holds more than 30k bottles (it’s just a large unfinished room in a basement). It uses air conditioning for active cooling in the summer and a humidifier in the winter. Temperature regulation is quite good.

First of all, I aspire to have a collection like that someday. Second, where were you able to get racking for $0.33/bottle?

[Keith_Levenberg]

I got quoted $80k by a professional wine cellar guy, then ended up hiring a normal construction guy for $25k. It’s almost as if professional wine cellar builders might have gotten the idea from somewhere that wine collectors have some extra money to spend on things.

[pnitze]

Hey Demian- I just built out about 7000 bottles/800-900 square feet of home storage in the Boston suburbs. Feel free to PM me. About $40K all in with high quality but utilitarian double deep, single bottle racking plus case storage. My very broad advice is to split up the project a bit. Use a trusted HVAC contractor for ducting and cooling unit install, use the GC for build out of the space, and then use a separate company for the racking. Will save $$$, albeit take up more of your time.

[MChang]

My cellar cost me ~10k for racking and holds more than 30k bottles (it’s just a large unfinished room in a basement). It uses air conditioning for active cooling in the summer and a humidifier in the winter. Temperature regulation is quite good.

First of all, I aspire to have a collection like that someday. Second, where were you able to get racking for $0.33/bottle?

It’s not all racked and I don’t have anywhere near 30k bottles. I just have room for that much. Our floor plan is mostly 1 story so I have a very big basement which is 2/3 dedicated to wine storage.

I have a lot of stuff stacked in domaine wine boxes, OWC, and original cardboard boxes, but have 20 144 bottle Lockwood metal shelves and some other shelving. Also a couple locked 600 btl le caches in a separate locked room for other stuff and a few other wine coolers.

Cellar is not at all pretty but holds a lot of wine at good temp/humidity.

[MChang]

Corner area bounded on two sides by underground walls. Had a carpenter build racks and shelving and then supplemented with some DIY racking from https://www.winecellarinnovations.com/wine-racks. We’re in the Pacific Northwest, so passive delivers 55 or below 7-8 months a year. For the warmer months, we use a $250 Kenmore air conditioner for cooling. Though you need to trick it by putting a heat source near the thermostat in order get down to 55 in the warmer months. But when you hear all the horror stories about the fussy, specialty wine cooling units, the Kenmore seems like the way to go.

I had a friend who also used an ac unit. The problem was that the unit took away much of the humidity, and although he tried to compensate, I was never entirely convinced that the wines had evolved well. In one tasting, six out of eleven wines were way more advanced than they should have been.

How low was the humidity? I find the humidity is much worse in the winter than summer. If you look at my graph it’s all >65% in the summer and 45-60% in the winter. I’ve been adding humidity with some humidifiers and an evaporative cooler but it’s usually above 50% so I’m pretty ok with it.

[Karl_K]

The cost is high and by breaking up the work as someone mentioned, you should be able to get it lower, though will all take you more time.

Also, you should plan for more storage

[Keith_Levenberg]

If low humidity ruined the wine it would only have been by drying out the corks. So how were the corks of those 6 bottles? Normal or dry and crumbly?