Post your wine cellar mistakes

WINE TALK
21

Not walling off half my garage and adding a wine cellar with ducted AC.

Now I have 2 full cabinets and started renting offsite storage.

Or, not buying a house with a basement.

JF

22

JF- I hired a contractor who went through the kitchen pantry and into the garage and built it out instead of trying to find space in the house. They did a great job. I also went with the split system and it’s been going strong for 8 years.

Of course I didn’t make it big enough. Added a restaurant metal rack against the lone free wall and got another 150 bottles or so.

As for collecting mistakes they are the usual suspects. Too much of one varietal and one region, too many lists, not realizing my palate would change, not realizing some of the market demands and economics of some regions, etc. Still got plenty of runway though to learn and adapt. [cheers.gif]

23

Yeah, I explored other avenues, one as crazy as digging the crawlspace, but my main problem was access for stairs.

Oh well, I went the the offsite storage route for now. However, wife wants to build a new house now,
so I might be in trouble.

Cheers,

JF

24

After spending 18 months worth of weekends building it, giving myself 4 stitches on my thumb during the last 5 mins of construction. But alas, I made it out with all 10 fingers and am very happy with my cellar.

25

This is getting to be a huge problem for me. They seem to last less and less long over time. Are there any good brands?

26

After going through a couple of Breeze-airs many years ago, I finally had installed a split system with a compressor outside. Never had a problem with it.

As to regrets…when I had my cellar racking built out, I had some spaces/shelves for wood case storage. Stopped drinking Bordeaux many years ago, never bought cases anyway, and now use them inefficiently to precariously stack individual bottles in them.

27

I went through three Breezair WKL 2200 units in 10 years, compressor died each time. First one was due to a power surge within 6 months of purchasing, and they kindly replaced it. The last two they just stopped cooling.

28

Buying too much Burgundy and not enough Baga.

29

It gets hot in Chico, I wish I designed an area into the cellar for a mattress for my wife and I to spend the night in. [pillow-fight.gif]

30

1. Being in too much of a hurry to fill my cellar. Your tastes will inevitably change, you will get smarter about buying, and you will blow right through your storage capacity.

2. Going too deep in each vintage/offer. Your tastes will inevitably change, you will get smarter about buying, and you will blow right through your storage capacity.

3. Buying decisions influenced by fears about “missing out” on the next big thing/pending high score

4. (related) Buying decisions based upon expectations of financial gain/flipping

5. (related) Feeling Hostage to mailing lists.

6. Too many reds, not enough whites/sparklers

7. Just simply buying too much.

8. (related) Not having a logical plan that evaluates consumption, drinking windows, and past buying patterns

31

Let’s do some business. I was going to say I’ve bought too many mid tier wines and not enough high end wines for really special occasions and offlines.

32

This perfectly describes my situation.

33

Guilty of these oenophilic sins, except #4.

Great points!

34

Not providing adequate racking for over sized bottles and 375ml bottles. Damn you Turley and dessert wines!

35

Not buying enough whites and sparklers other than 2002 Huet.

Not taking the time when new wines come in to put them in the back. I have inaccessible wines nearing maturity and young wines that are right up in front.

36

The only real regret I have is not getting wider-spaced racking. At the time I was mostly interested in wines that came in Bordeaux-style bottles. Even with the swollen, idiotic proportions of today’s bottles, they still fit. But Burgundy style? Forget it. Nothing brings the rage like a bottle that simply will not fit. Add that to the fact that Champagne rewards aging more than most wines, and I am starved for space in the “all of the above” area above the racking.

37

Not getting in on the ground floor with Maison Ilan…

38

Space wise, I am ok, I certainly bought too many reds v whites/sparklers. And I bought too much midrange stuff. Should have went high/low more.

39

Life, my friend, has given you a second chance…

40

I think my major mistake early on was that I bought a bunch of “daily drinkers” with most of them being focused on a few key varietals. When I had my Pinot Noir “epiphany” I had a cellar that was 75% California Cabernet & the rest was mostly “big” reds also from the US. After about 2 years I was able to thin it out and a few key principles have kept me in a balanced cellar since.

  • No more than 25% of my favorite varietal
  • a few high end wines (1-3 bottles) from benchmark producers even if I don’t care for the style in wines that are designed to age for 10-20+ years (so that I have them incase my palate shifts)
  • Buy fewer bottles of a higher quality