All About Bespoke (Custom) Wine Cellars

We so adore beautiful wine cabinets and cellars in high end homes showed by Architectural Digest, GQ, Robb Report or Florida Design et al? A modern wine cellar has become a signature of luxury design. Custom wine cellars have changed the way that successful and wealthy saw good design, at the same time picking up a habit that helps in intriguing conversations at the local club or brunches.

Custom or Designer Wine Cellars are in form of simple configuration of cabinet, to compete customizations, and we present them in three forms:

1. Built-in Designer Cabinet Cellars + Hybrid Cellars
2. Climatized Bespoke Cellars
3. Wine Walls (in Rooms or a Dedicated Wall)

A note, of Hybrid Cellars as a blend of Cabinet + Bespoke Cellars, we wont elaborate here. Read the article to learn more.

Source: Florida Design Mag

Smart, Efficient, Designer and Least Expensive

The built in wine cellar is the most sought after design for many great reasons:

• Built in Cellars are a great design visual that compliment the space outside.
• Built in Cellars are extremely space efficient, fitting into any area of interest, as lounge, kitchen, or library.
• Built in Cellars can offer extremely high capacity, from hundred to three hundred bottles.
• Built in Cellars are great for people who want an understated view, and keep the wine bottles away from eye view, announcing they are Wine Connoisseurs.
• Built in Cellars have as much to do with exterior design as with wines, because they also become a design element.
• Built in Cellars (cabinet) go hand in hand with the Bar, instead of a Wine Rooms which makes it more old world.
• Built in Cabinet Wine Cellars offer multi zone temperatures to keep different types of wines and champagnes together without needing additional refrigeration.
• Built in Cabinet Wine Cellars are lesser in cost of ownership and maintenance than other styles. Built in cabinet cellars can be worth between $3,500 to $10,000. When imported the cost can add generally 50 to 100% based on shipping, duty and local taxes.

There are so many great reasons why built in Cellars are desirable especially in modern design homes. As a note there are also Column X Bespoke called Hybrid Cellars that are slight higher in cost than built in, yet much lower in cost from Bespoke. They offer panoramic visibility, custom wine racking and display system, built in options or island and fraction of cost of the Bespoke.

Source: Caveduke Installation, Marbella Spain

Impressive, Monumental, Statement with a Luxury Price Tag

Climatized Bespoke Cellars are built as key architectural element where the owner wishes to present a collection of wine and champagne bottles in high end luxury view, set as floor to ceiling expression. It may be as an independent island, or built into a wall or partition (in this case inside the partition so it wont be floor to ceiling). Considerations of Bespoke cellars:

• They offer a higher end luxury installation than any other type, and fit for the most ambitious residences because of their imposing and awe inspiring presence.
• Wine Bespoke Cellars are in single or dual temperatures, but mostly single if a wholly panoramic view. Dual zone creates a partition wall inside the façade.
• Their built time can be as long and three months, and logistically are much more expensive to ship and assemble, for care and safety. It may take as long as four to six months for delivery and installation of this type.
• Wine Bespoke Cellars are entirely customized by material, craftsman’s time and effort individually focused to build it by millimeter. Thus while cabinet type of cellars are made in automatic machines and assembled in factory for a shorter timeline, the Bespoke Cellar is a painstaking work with four to six times higher cost of building it.
• Wine Bespoke Cellars allow owner to dictate special material, personal design preference, custom finishes, stains, and structure exact to the demand of the installation space, which is not possible in readymade. This allows a personalized by taste experience.
• It should only be used from highly specialized craftsmanship company because they are only acceptable when perfect, any less, such as higher vibration, noise, less impressive finishing, or cheap material can affect negatively the house design making it into a sore eye point.
• Bespoke cellars are for premium wine bottles in limited quantity, the rest of wine bottles may be stored in a Collector Cabinet in a wine store. These are purely impressive monumental expressions in modern house design.
• Cost of Bespoke Cellars can range from $35,000 to $50,000. When importing, add 50-100% in shipping, duty and taxes.

Are Bespoke Cellars a way to present the owner’s taste and design prowess of presence? Yes it is a statement not just a cellar.

Source: Robb Report

Luxury of Space, for Private Collectors, A Big Budget Renovation

Wine Walls can be easily misinterpreted by the uninitiated (as humans wore wings to jump off the cliff to fly in history), because they come in these parts,

1. The Wine Wall: A Bottle Storage an Racking System
2. Insulated Enclosure: A Climatized space for the wine bottles, which has high degree of insulation both by material and technique,
3. Climatization System: The HVAC and Humidity control system.

These have to work in concert. The wine wall by itself is waste of space, and simply wrong to store wine bottles because it destroys all wines, both champagnes that become sour and lose the pop; as the red wines that ferment and smell.

A note against Wine Walls in exclusivity

When a wine wall is minimal to keep ready at hand a dozen bottles, away from kitchen, that would be consumed within a week, it may be okay (we still prefer to keep in it a small wine cooler instead). However making a wine wall without an insulated enclosure and climatization system will make it look ignorant. Some might even call is new money no class. Where wine walls are of interest (in a large space capacity, the correct way is to build it as its made to be).

Considerations in building a Wine Wall Enclosure

• A dedicated wall with minimum three feet depth. Where, an insulated panel system is setup all around including top (as a fish aquarium). It has a split, roof top, or integrated HVAC + Humidifier system. The wall has anti-UV reflector, and possibly an insulating gas between dual or three glazes. The wine racks are either floor mounted till ceiling, or installed on back panel whether non glass or hard surface. Where wall at back is exposed it is necessary to work on the wall masonry creating insulation setup behind it, then set the finished wall, same with the floor.
• A POD or short room, which must have same qualities as dedicated wall, but is extending to convert into a walk in, Wine Racks can be on two or three sides. Here the glass enclosure may be only on side panels, while the top and floor, or an exposed all must be carry professional insulation.
• A walk in Wine Room, here there is no glass enclosure. Your own room is used and constructed ground up to an insulated chamber. Wine racking system is delivered to fit into space to design. And HVAC + Humidifier is ordered based on cubic meter space (which costs as minimum as a built in wine cabinet cellar). This style can be modern or classic, where entire furniture of shelves, slides, racks and space for refrigerator (for champagnes) arrives custom made to fit.

There are other considerations in type of light (non-UV) for this preservation chamber. The chamber needs the same features as an engineered cellar to store age and preserve wines.

This type of construction is a while setup just like building a small house. We should not be confused of its cost an expensive furniture. A walkin wine room, may cost in hundred thousands US$ 100-300,000 after each element is proposed. It is not recommended for a rental property.

The Divine Choice

Which type of Custom Built Wine Cellar Suits your style?

Here are certain criteria that are common to each construction violating which will make the effort wasted, they are well know to many and yet unknown to as most that are getting into owning a cellar. There are the elements of wine preservation. Because wines are like drinking foods (unlike spirits as Gin, Whiskey, Vodka, Rums), that ferment, disintegrate, oxidize and cook out when preservation criteria is not met.

1. Wines Love Darkness. Like nocturnal creatures, they burn in light. UV is the enemy of wine, it will burn and cook it. Only special lights may be used in LED form where wines are kept. Anti UV treatment is an essential.
2. Wines Embody the Smells of its Surrounding. If kept in a food fridge it will add the smell of tomatoes, garlic, broccoli, cooked foods, ending the flavour we paid for it. It works with with a cellar that carries odour removal filter.
3. Wines are like Still Paintings. They live in static and break apart under constant vibrations. Resultant are sediments we see that are mixed in the beverage. There are sediments over time, made in wine. When still it rests at the bottom, thus an anti vibration system is an essential for long term aging. Exclusively, when new bottle of wines are kept the vibration could break its structure if kept for a few weeks.
4. Wines fall ill just as people between change of temperature. A consistent and continuous temperature only a cellar keeps is essential to age wines. We look for cellar cooling system that maintains exact temperature and the variation is micro or none. Here check out cellars with HVAC that keep warmer wines warm even in winters, will not drop to chill when outside temperature goes below set.
5. Wines Love Chapstick and Moisturizing as Human equivalent terms, its humidity. A dry environment where humidity goes below 55% dries out corks (that wines need to breathe and age). One affect is they get oxidized and go bad, the other is when we open the bottle with corkscrew, it will break apart and fall into the beverage. It looks embarrassing, and no one will drink this wine.

Bon Voyage & Bon Appetit.

Keeping the above in mind, which type of custom cabinet suits your space, inspiration and expression? We hope this journey has helped you receive information in the journey to owning your own custom built cellar.

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What do you think, have we covered your questions? Is there anything you want to know? Leave in comments.

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