Every time I visit our offsite wine storage facility, I question the wisdom of paying someone else to hold our wine. Every time I sort through my poorly-organized pallet of cases, I imagine a neatly-arrayed racking system. Every time I realize that that special bottle is sitting 30 minutes away in a storage locker, I daydream about having all our wine conveniently stored in our own home.
Is anyone else anywhere near the tipping point between renting and building storage? What puts you on one side or the other of the equation?
Among the tangible factors I’ve pondered:
Initial construction cost - anyone have a rough per-bottle or per-square foot estimate of what it costs to build a cellar?
Ongoing utility and maintenance costs - are climate/humidity controls reasonably reliable and inexpensive?
Effect on future home resale value - is a wine cellar like an in-ground swimming pool (valuable to some buyers but actually a deterrent to others)?
Of course, there are all sorts of intangibles as well: foremost being the convenience of in-home storage, but also the enjoyment of having all our wine close at hand, the ability to organize it more effectively, and the relative ease with which our teenagers will be able to pilfer bottles from us…
At the end of the day, I’m sure this is primarily an emotional decision, but since it potentially represents a significant financial investment, I’d like to be able to back up our impulse decision with some quantitative data.
Steve - I understand you have a lot of new wall space where such a cellar might be constructed, no?
Those with offsite will sing the praises of offsite, just as those with onsite will do the same. I can see the benefits of both, but I don’t have enough space to build a legitimately large cellar in my house, and my 280 bottle LeCache has served me well thus far, although I’m sure the energy bills would be MUCH lighter without it.
I wouldn’t EVER count on having it increase the value of your home - not a penny. If you go with some sort of built-in unit in a basement or something, it’s going to be quite expensive, but so is an off-site for the same size, and you have less convenience.
If I had the space, I’d dedicate a room in the basement (if I had a basement) to a cellar, and just insulate the bejeezus out of it to keep the a/c unit fully functional. I’ve seen cellars like Saxon’s, where it’s literally just a closet in a guest house and an a/c unit in the wall, and others with built in racking and beautiful counter space in some cavernous room in a basement.
Even though Melissa obviously likes wine a bit as well, I’m not sure you can even be asking whether or not you can spend money on this type of renovation - doesn’t she make those decisions FOR you?
I’ve been wanting to build a cellar for years. the major issue for me is that we would have to make an addition to our house because the current one does not have any spare room(s) we could use. That would mean pouring a foundation (which requires a permit) and then, we would have to build on top of that. Building is really expensive for us as I have figured the following for 2500 bottles so far:
So without any frills, I am alrady at $16k. Totally out of the question for me, especially as it doesn’t add any value to our home. I could remodel our bathrooms with this money and get 75 cents on the dollar back in the value of our home.
The solution is to look for a home with a good space for a cellar next time we purchase a new home. That’s the only way I can make sense of this.
Ha! Haha! I’d have built a 5000 bottle cellar (with rare mahogany from a near-extinct tree species. and maybe mother of pearl inlay) years ago (and filled it with wine) if not for Steve’s more sensible predilections about such things.
Agreed. But that’s assuming I will stay in my home for 10 more years, which is unlikely. So if I have to reconstruct the cellar (which I undoubtedly would), then this gets even more lopsided. In my particular circumstance, it makes the most sense to sit and wait until we move.
True 'dat - if you aren’t planning to stay a while, it makes NO sense. I’m thinking it is likely we will be here for 10 years or more, but I don’t have anywhere to build one unless I take out one of the bedrooms or my office
What’s the operating cost for the Le Cache per month? I’m getting mine on Monday (Hopefully unbroken) and am curious to hear what the operating costs are per month. I’m hoping my wife won’t be too surprised…
No clue, as I didn’t bother to check. Mine’s upstairs (only spot for it because we literally have ONE non-exterior wall in the lower level of the house) so it gets a bit hot up there during the summer and probably has to work harder for a few months.
I need to get the name of your contractor. I recently completed a 2000 bottle cellar/tasting room as an addition to my house. I’ll qualify my statement by telling you I added a second story bedroom over the cellar – but 16K was not in the ballpark.
I’m in the business, so take these comments with a grain of salt. If you have the space and are going to be in the same place for a long time, home cellars are obviously great. My wine is in my home cellar built 20 years ago, on my second Breezaire, wondering if it’s going to conk out in the middle of the summer.
If you have a fair amount of wine, I think the ideal is some sort of combination. SOME sort of a cellar at home, be it a standalone refrigerator unit or a true cellar is great. But do you really need to spend the money and space to store 25 or 50 or 100 cases of young wine that you aren’t going to drink for 5-20 years at home?
Note that I said without frills and if I install the racking myself. I assume that between frills and racking installation, I could easily spend another 4k. How much did you spend for the cellar portion?
That’s an excellent point, Chuck. I hadn’t really considered the opportunity cost of devoting limited space and resources to something that will not be “used” for many years.
We made the room big enough so it could be used for entertaining. Back in April when we christened it, I believe we had 12 or more people at one time standing around the tasting table. We use the room frequently and love it.
If I had a basement, I probably would think about it. I am currently spending $35/month for an offsite storage that can probably store around 15-18 cases. That’s $420/year. Assuming I keep it for 10 years (no price increase), I would have spent $4,200. I can never build a permanent cellar for that amount of money which probably won’t return anything once I sell the house. So for me, no choice but to keep my Eurocave (100 cap), a small Kenmore (35) plus the offsite storage.
When you’re offsite with storage factor in the time and fuel to go there and make sure you plan for the future so you minimize trips. When we built, I was standing over the rough grading and house layout, I asked the contractor “how much more to dig a hole and build out a wine cellar. Between shots of tequila and smoking a phatty (the contractor) quoted me $10k. 13’6” X 14’. 12" concrete wall, 18" floor and beamed above where the garage is, with conrete poured over. It’s been great for storage w/o a humidifier or cold head. Temperature move 10 degrees from winter to summer and humidity remains between 78-83%. I have a 3.6kW photovoltaic electric generation system and may add another 1.2kW and add a cold head to hold it at 55 degrees. I share the space with my neighbor, a grape grower, and am currently building racks after 7 years. It’s GREAT and well worth the investment. The cigars keep well there too. I think this is an opportune time to get construction done on the cheap.
I personally am against the concept of offsite storage for my wine. I love the fact that all of my wine is in my basement and I have access to everything. That being said, I am a bit spoiled as there is a small room that my father used as a passive cellar for many years that I upgraded to an insulated and climate controlled cellar (I purchased my parents’ house almost 10 years ago). The cost to renovate was in the neighborhood of $4k - that included hiring an unemployed handy-man for $15/hour to gut the room, put in polystyrene insulation board, drywall, store and garage sale bought racking, install lighting and run a dedicated electric outlet for the cooling unit, and a “dinged” Breezaire unit from eBay (about 30% cheaper than list). The fact that I did not have to frame anything out or build something from scratch made this a fairly easy decision. And considering I found two 96 bottle racks and three 108 bottle cubes at a yard sale for $25/each, the racking was very cost-effective as well. The room currently has over 1,200 bottles in it - including about 8 cases on the floor waiting for the craigslist Eurocave that is currently in the garage.
Man, when I read these threads it just make me appreaciate West Michigan all the more…5,400 sq ft, two acres, 30 min from downtown and affordable …beautiful beaches 45 min away in the summer and good skiing 2 hours away in the winter…
Alot of this depends on what structure is already there and how much you can do yourself. Mine is not flashy, but i did most of it myself and all in was well under $4,000. If you’re looking for a showplace to hang out in and wooo the friends, it’s going to cost a lot more obviously. Ask Melissa to show you mine on facebook. All I have left to do is something with the floor and ceiling. I had offsite storage for 2yrs and LOVE having my bottles back at home with me!