While a wine cellar is wonderful for wine enthusiasts, many people now ponder that “Does a wine cellar increase home value?”. This page will provide the answers to your queries based on the most accurate information.
1. What is a wine cellar?
A wine cellar generally refers to a space designated for the storage of wine in bottles or barrels. Wine is a perishable food item, so incorrect storage will cause it to spoil.
The fermented fruit product will be shielded from potentially damaging external influences like sunlight, vibration, and changes in temperature and humidity by a wine cellar.
One of the more recent fads in home design and construction is the extravagant, custom-built wine cellar, where wine lovers may properly store, mature, and display their collections of bottled wine.
2. Types of wine cellars
Active cellars and passive cellars are the two most popular types of wine cellars. All these components are combined in passive and active cellars, but they do so in various ways—naturally and artificially.
You must choose between a passive cellar and a master basement for your specific situation, depending on your storage requirements, available space, and preferred location.
Passive cellars are usually underground storage areas without artificial climate control. Today’s typical basement has a subterranean temperature of 50–55 degrees, which makes it the perfect place to store wine.
Due to their dry, unheated basements, passive cellars are a popular choice among homeowners. The fact that a passive cellar does not require cooling technology to maintain the ideal temperature and humidity for wine is another benefit.
This suggests that people shouldn’t worry about unpleasant power disruptions. An eco-friendly passive vault is also available, leaving little carbon behind from any fitted lighting. Overall, a passive cellar is a practical and affordable choice for storing wine collections.
Active cellars use a climate-controlled wine cooling system to artificially keep temperature and humidity at a perfect balance. You probably already know that temperature and humidity can both affect the taste of wine. To maintain the right temperature and humidity, a functional cellar needs to be properly built and insulated.
A working cellar can be created in a variety of ways, including as a standalone chamber, a converted area like a closet or bedroom, a glass wine wall, an under-counter cooler, and more. Your demands, imagination, and ideas are the only factors limiting the possibilities.
3. Why should your house consider having a wine cellar?
Not only the wealthy have cellars. The installation of a wine cellar in an existing home or as an addition to a new building is a popular choice among homeowners nowadays.
But keep in mind that a cellar doesn’t need to be enormous or contain a huge number of bottles, nor does it need to be in the basement. A beautiful wine cellar can be made to fit practically anywhere in the house, including disused space under the stairs, a seldom-used closet, or a bedroom.
Since most homes lack this feature, the cellar serves as more than simply a status symbol. Its existence increases your home’s worth when you decide to sell it. Remember the convenience factor, too. You won’t have to rush to the liquor store when friends or dinner guests are expected.
Many people buy wine in bulk for personal consumption, while others build wine collections as a pastime or investment. With its controlled temperature and humidity, the cellar is a secure, devoted, and excellent place to store wine and champagne.
Additionally, you have the advantage of being able to showcase your collection in lovely surroundings so that you may always enjoy it if you like.
When wine connoisseurs discover a new wine they like, they frequently buy it in quantity to save money and to take advantage of the current vintage’s availability.
But if they don’t have a secure, climate-controlled storage facility, this is doubtful. Some wine enthusiasts opt to keep their collection at distant wineries, which is pricey and inconveniently involves delivery or a trip to the warehouse.
If you’re thinking about getting a personalized vault, careful planning is essential. Before you can place your first bottle of wine on the shelf, a cellar of any size requires innumerable choices, additions, and alterations.
4. Does A Wine Cellar Increase Home Value?
Your home’s worth will undoubtedly rise if you have a wine cellar. By including this kind of room, you can appeal to purchasers’ idealized notions of what an expensive home should include.
They picture themselves developing a passion for wine and maintaining their collection in a dedicated cellar. Homes with wine cellars sold for 30% more than those without in a survey of home sales.
4.1. Increase the economic value of your home
In recent years, purchasers have come to appreciate additions even if they don’t use alcohol. According to reports, buyers are willing to spend an additional $17,000 to $65,000 on a home with a cellar.
The majority of experts will advise remodeling your property to match its size, architecture, and market value. Knowing your environment and being honest with yourself is crucial.
One of the sledgehammer’s main aims should be to emphasize the fact that not all home improvements are made equally. It is crucial to pay attention to specs, material quality, and design.
A house is an investment for purchasers, both financially and emotionally. Additionally, a cellar or great room can significantly increase a house’s monetary value.
It will let them decide and set their asking price based on how customers feel when they see your storage space. Build it such that people would be able to appreciate its high quality and realize how it will enhance their way of life.
4.2. Increase the aesthetics of the house
The top wine cellars combine design and purpose with ease. A luxury that has advantages beyond financial gain is creating the ideal environment for storing and drinking great wine.
The purpose of a wine cellar extends beyond simple wine storage. If properly constructed, a wine cellar can exhibit true artistic talent. A stunning wine cellar may be a home’s star feature and blend in beautifully with the interior design of your house. Your wine collection is a source of great pride.
You can’t go wrong with a wine cellar, whether you design it as a space just for storing wine or as a hybrid that also provides a tranquil setting for drinking it. An elegant storage solution is helpful to both collectors and connoisseurs.
4.3. Generate conversation
A well-designed wine cellar will spark conversation, which is a terrific way to promote your home. In addition to wanting to see it, they will have a lot of questions about it.
They might inquire about its construction, its capacity for holding wine, and the kind of wine you store in it. These are all great inquiries that could increase interest in your home from potential buyers.
4.4. May become necessary
Because the value of your home keeps rising. It will soon reach a pricing point where owning a wine cellar will be all but obligatory in certain markets.
People anticipate that the residences they visit will have distinctive features, and a wine cellar is one of those features. To get ready for the day when your home hits this price point, you might wish to create a wine cellar now.
4.5. Indicate the house is in good condition
Since a wine cellar is uncommon to be found in a fixer-upper, its presence in a home is a sign that the building is in good condition, given that the need for wine cellars is relatively new.
If a home contains a wine cellar, buyers can confidently infer that it was recently remodeled which logically implies that the whole house hasn’t been renovated at all, only kept up to date.
You can see more:
- Does Chardonnay Go Bad? Expert Advice for Wine Storage
- How Is Cabernet Sauvignon Served? All You Need To Know
- How Many Calories Are In A Bottle Of Pinot Noir?
5. Things to take into account while planning to build your wine cellar
5.1. Consistent temperature
The range of temperatures that is usually acknowledged is between 50 and 60 degrees. Lean toward 50 if you want wine to be consumed over a lengthy period; nevertheless, the wine will mature a bit more quickly in a warmer cellar if you want to consume it sooner. Therefore, 55 is typically seen as a happy number.
The wine ages abnormally quickly or unusually slowly depending on whether the temperature is above or below this range. Of course, if you wanted to freeze wine while it was still fresh, you could accomplish so in a really cold cellar’s permafrost.
In extremely heated cellars, the development curve of wine is unfavorable. The wine becomes chestnut brown after about a year or two and has an odd stewed flavor.
No matter what your temperature is, maintaining consistency is crucial because the pressure differential between the inside and outside of the bottle varies whenever the temperature of the bottle fluctuates.
Your wine will mature more uniformly and it will be much simpler to keep a constant temperature if you can afford a wine fridge or cellar temperature control system.
5.2. Horizontal storage and humidity
Humidity should also be controlled externally, as it is one of the elements that significantly influences wine flavor. The most important point is that your cellar design should account for your location.
If you live in a desert or semi-arid climate, despite some experts’ recommendations that the humidity of the cellar should be as high as 70%, there is not enough moisture.
You can certainly get a professional humidifier or hygrometer if you feel that you are sufficiently natural. Several high-end wine refrigerators come with an integrated humidifier.
You can keep water containers in your cellar room in case of emergency or spray water on any hardwood surface once every few weeks. However, this is a far less appealing task for the cellar in terms of work and appearance.
5.3. Appropriate lighting
Avoid placing your wine cellar near any sources of UV-producing natural light. Wine can be seriously harmed by the sun’s UV rays. Many wine bottles are made of dark green or brown glass, which is used to shield wine from light. Wine can be harmed by light from any source, so try to limit exposure.
Your best alternatives for lighting a cellar may be low-light LEDs, red bulbs, or tinted, cellophane-covered work lights, but anything you can do to lessen the amount of light exposure to your wines will help ensure balanced aging.
Any heat-generating light source is undesirable since it will change the temperature of your wine cellar. Standard light bulbs produce a considerable amount of heat and should be avoided if at all feasible.
5.4. Effective Cooling System
Building structures to create these optimum circumstances is a more difficult task than placing your cellar in an area where conditions similar to them already exist.
To create the ideal atmosphere for wine storage, a robust cooling system will be crucial if room is not already available. The anticipated size of your cellar will have a big impact on the size and kind of cooling equipment you need.
Consider consulting a qualified heating and conditioning consultant for larger, more complicated spaces. Keep in mind that your wine cellar’s cooling system is its beating heart, ensuring that your wines are mature enough to keep their quality and worth.
6. Advice on How to Organize Your Wine Cellar
How you set up your cellar so you can quickly discover the bottle you want is equally crucial. To maintain a beautiful and organized wine cellar, you can refer to the following arrangements.
6.1. Classify by Region
By the time you have more than 250 bottles in your possession, you most certainly have a collection of wines from various parts of the globe. You now have the choice to arrange your wine collection by area and even further by nation.
6.2. Classify by Style
For wine aficionados just starting to amass their collection, sophisticated wine organization is a fantastic choice. If you only have a little wine, combine the dessert, red, sparkling, rosé, and white varieties.
6.3. Classify by Variety
Focus on emerging global producers arranged under a variety of well-functioning mid-size collections. You will be able to choose with ease since you will be completely aware of which item falls under whatever category. An alternative would be to arrange a collection of this size of wine by vintage.
6.4. Classify by Price
Try sorting by price if you like to buy wine haphazardly and don’t anticipate expanding your collection beyond 250 bottles. This is fantastic if you’re new to cellaring and trying out various flavors and locales to develop your palate.
6.5. Classify by Producer
Joining certain winery clubs allows many wine aficionados to purchase a certain number of new releases each vintage. This type of collecting can eventually result in profitable outcomes since you can sell these collections in the future in sets of three or more or as a collection of vintages.
7. FAQs
7.1. What is the price of building a wine cellar?
The straightforward response you want is that home wine cellars range in price from about $15,000 to $180,000. The national average price for a wine cellar is $33,750, according to our research.
7.2. Where would be the ideal location for a wine cellar?
The ideal place for a wine cellar is the basement. The wine cellar basement is dark, chilly, and humid, which are the three characteristics a cellar should have. In addition to keeping out other components like direct light and vibrations, it is simpler to maintain a constant temperature and humidity.
7.3. Is wine storage a wise purchase?
Wine investments are typically medium- to long-term. The bottles can lose their value if they are broken, damaged, or stored inappropriately, which is one of the major concerns. There is no assurance that the price of any particular bottle of wine will rise, just like there is with any investment.
7.4. In a wine cellar, how long can wine be kept?
1-2 years past the listed expiration date for white wine. Red wine: two to three years past the printed date of expiration. 3 to 5 years after the printed expiration date for cooking wine. Fine wine should be aged 10 to 20 years and kept in a wine cellar.
7.5. Why is wine kept underground?
In addition to offering the best year-round conditions for aging and storing wines, the wine cellar’s consistent temperature range is perfect for keeping barrels from drying out. Evaporation is decreased by the cave’s natural dampness. For optimal barrel aging and preservation, red needs a humidity level of at least 75% while white needs one of at least 85%.
7.6. Are windows necessary in wine cellars?
It’s preferable to avoid having any windows in your cellar because cellars should be dark to safeguard the wine. The cellar door is included in this as well. Inset windows on your cellar door are best avoided for the same reason.
7.7. How come wine is stored upside down?
When a bottle is held sideways, the wine remains in contact with the cork, keeping it moist to prevent that cork from drying out, shrinking up, and allowing air to enter the wine, causing early oxidation. Keep the cork moist by turning it upside down rather than right side up.
7.8. Does a wine cellar need to be dark?
Particularly sunshine is harsh on tannins. The lower the light levels, the better for a wine cellar. The majority of the time, bottles should be kept in the dark. If you decide to visit them, be careful to softly awaken them by utilizing soft lighting as opposed to harsh or aggressive lighting.
7.9. What kind of material makes the greatest walls for a wine cellar?
Insulated sheetrock or green board makes the greatest kind of wall for a wine cellar. The cellar must also have a vapor barrier, which is either a plastic sheet or a foam covering that prevents moisture from entering and helps maintain the cellar’s appropriate humidity and temperature range.
7.10. Which wine cellar would be best?
A wine cellar should be kept at a temperature of 12°C to ensure that your wines are stored or aged in the appropriate conditions. Red and white wines both prefer a slightly higher temperature, between 12°C and 14°C, whereas white wines prefer the range of 10°C to 12°C.
7.11. Is cooling required in a wine cellar?
A conditioner will still be required. The wine may suffer from the continuous temperature changes brought on by the harsh Australian summers and arctic winters. You can design a cellar in practically any area of your home by installing a conditioner.
8. Conclusion
The answer to the question “Does a wine cellar increase home value?” is necessary since adding a wine cellar will help your property become more elegant and valuable. Using the tips we’ve provided above, construct a fantastic wine cellar for your house right away.
With over a decade of experience in viticulture, Simon Conner is the perfect writer to help you find and maintain your prized vintages. As an expert on food, wine, and kitchen products, he offers his expertise to guide clients through every step involved with collecting and selling wines.