I think it’s pretty well established that light is bad for aging wine…hence, why most wines designed to age are packaged in darker glass bottles. If the intent is a show cellar filled with wine you’ll drink in the short- to mid-term, shouldn’t be an issue. If the intent is long-term aging, I would consider limiting glass. Another option may be some sort of tinted glass, but I have no experience with that.
I believe it’s mostly UV light that is problematic, so ensuring that the glass has a UV filter applied should suffice. And for the most part, your cellar is unlikely to be exposed to much direct sunlight as well.
2 Likes
Glass is also a much worse insulator than walls so you will likely need a larger conditioning unit the more glass you use. We were talked out of using as much glass as we originally wanted for this reason.
2 Likes
I’m feeling cynical today, so my first thought was whether glass was the more expensive option.
Thinking about the future, what if the next owner doesn’t want a wine cellar? Would all that glass be a plus or a minus, should it be converted to something else?
3 Likes
Glass is great if looking into the cellar is a big priority. It obviously costs more and is less efficient to cool. So that is really a personal choice.
The sad news is home buyers very rarely pay extra for a nice wine cellar. Anyone around here would but not a factor in the general real estate market. Sad.
1 Like
To offer another point of view, i absolutely love my glass wine wall. Ive had zero issues with light negatively affecting my wines, but as referenced above, mine also does not get exposed to direct sunlight.
Is it the most efficient cellar ever built? Nope, definitely not. Does it make me smile literally every time i walk into my house? You bet your ass it does 
14 Likes
Congrats! I have been following your posts for months now and have enjoyed reading them a lot. I’m still in my first home, and with no space for a cellar, everything is in off site storage for the foreseeable future. I can’t wait to embark on this journey myself one day though. Amazing work!
Thanks. It’s been a long journey. It would have been finished a lot sooner if I had hired it out, but it’s been a great project. It was a lot of fun learning new woodworking skills and even doing the actual work.
2 Likes
Dude, this is gorgeous. Well done!
2 Likes
Ok, it’s official. The wine cellar is open for business! The wine has been transported, roughly sorted, and shelved. The cooling unit is on, and the temperature is dropping. I figure it will take several days for the wine and cellar to reach temp, but then we’re ready to pop some corks!
20 Likes
Also, I would like to take this opportunity to beg, plead, and grovel to @Marcus_Goodfellow to please please please use smaller bottles.
My double deep bins will hold 21 Burgundy-style bottles with a standardish diameter of 3-1/4 inches. Unfortunately, most Goodfellow bottles are 3-3/8 inches. That extra 1/8 inch means I can only fit 15 Goodfellow bottles in a double deep bin, and it’s killing my packing density. I can fit 40% more Vincent, Sun Break, Evesham Wood, or most other bottles in a bin compared to Goodfellow.
(And yes I know it’s not just Goodfellow that uses a 3-3/8” Burgundy bottle. But that’s the largest producer in my cellar by bottle count.)
Marcus, I promise to buy 40% more wine from you if you use a slightly smaller bottle! You can even create a whole campaign for your distributers about how you’re doing your part to save the environment by using lighter packaging. It will be our little secret that the smaller bottle was really so you can save me some space. I’m sure all the other Berserkers can keep a secret. Whadaya say? 
7 Likes
Charles,
Alas, I have asked this same thing for years. I believe I know the reason for the big bottle, but I’ll leave that to Marcus to answer.
Be thankful you weren’t a Turley superfan for their first 20-25 vintages. Small comfort, I know.
Of course, this will probably mess up your organizational system or other aspects of your feng shui (and you probably already thought of this), but you will probably fit more total bottles in the same number of bins if you spread your Goodfellas around, no more than 2, 3, or maybe 4 per bin with smaller bottles from other producers taking up the rest of that bin, rather than filling entire bins with nothing but Goodfellow.
Working on it!
We used the Eco-Burgundy bottle this year for the 2022 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, the Tsai Pinot Blanc, the Rosé, and the 2023 WV Chardonnay.
The vineyard designates and micro-lots are still in the mid-sized 3 3/8” bottles though.
4 Likes
I’ll take those extra Goodfellows off your hands. Save you the angst.
1 Like
Please tell me you’re putting airplane minis in the corner.
3 Likes
Well I am now! 
3 Likes
That’s great news! I actually did notice that the Tsai Pinot Blanc and the “Vin Soif” were in smaller bottles that were easier to shelf, but I figured that was a quirk. It didn’t occur to me that it might be step 1 of a bigger project.
My post above was half in jest, but I really am looking forward to the smaller bottles to roll out across your line up, for my own selfish reasons. Thanks!
Charles,
In other words, for all the GF wines you want to cellar long term, you are still SOL. 
@Marcus_Goodfellow Can you clarify? Will you be rolling out the eco-Burgundy bottle to your line of Pinot Noir eventually, as I assumed from your earlier comment?