Custom Wine Storage Ideas for Your Home

February 10, 2021

Wine is bottled poetry.

By Robert Louis Stevenson,

Scottish author and poet (1850-1894)

Whether you are preparing for a romantic date night at home or entertaining guests, if you are a wine aficionado, wine storage is probably near and dear to your heart. When wine is stored properly, it provides the best celebration experience for you and your loved ones.

Yes, you could buy a small wine rack shelf to hang on your wall in your dining room and call it a day. But for those who are seriously passionate about wine, you want something a lot more substantial to house your wine collection.

One of the great things about building a custom home is that you can create the wine storage paradise of your dreams.

Wine Storage Temperature, Humidity, and Light

It [good wine] should start and end with a smile.

By William Sokolin, New York wine merchant and wine writer

Wine is a bit temperamental. It thrives in a very specific environment. So if you want to properly store more than a few bottles of wine at home, here are some key wine storage basics.

Cool Temperatures

Temperatures above 70F will age a bottle of wine too quickly. If it gets a lot warmer than that, the wine can be “cooked” and lose its heavenly aromas and flavors.

But Not Too Cold

If the temperature goes much below 45, like in a regular refrigerator, the corks may dry out, allowing air to sneak in and ruin the wine.

Don’t allow wine to freeze either, because the frozen wine would expand and push the cork out, destroying the contents.

With Just the Right Amount of Humidity

Ideally, the relative humidity should be 60-70%, which means, you may need a wine cooler to maintain the proper temperature and humidity for temporary wine storage.

Keep It in the Dark

Wine does best away from light because UV rays can prematurely age the wine. That is why most wine bottles are made of dark glass.

The sun is a big problem. But you may even want to shelter your wine from artificial light if you will be storing it for long.

If you want to age your wines yourself for more than a few years, then you may need to research professional-grade wine storage with a wine cellar.

Wine makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, every day more civilized.

By Andre Simon, French wine merchant, gourmet and wine writer (1877-1970)

Wine Storage Options

People have all kinds of wine storage ideas from simple shelves to large built-in wine cellars in the basement.

Here are a few of our favorite ways to store wine:

Built-In-Wine-Cabinet

If you want a simple wine storage cabinet to keep your favorite wine at room temperature, a butler’s pantry is just the place for your collection.

You can have wine racks inside the cabinets to keep the wine bottles tilted slightly downward to prevent the corks from drying out. Or you can have the bottles stored on their side on shelves or even sitting upright.

Custom Wine Rack

Wine racking allows wine bottles to be stored horizontally, which helps to keep corks wet and happy.

Wine storage racks can be exposed for display or concealed behind cabinets or closet doors to keep out the light.

Custom Wine Bottle Cubbies

If you have a larger wine collection, you may enjoy floor-to-ceiling wine cubbies in your kitchen pantry, above cabinets in the kitchen, or as part of a built-in cabinet in your living space.

Under-the-Counter Wine Cooler

If you want to control the environment for your small wine collection, a wine and beverage cooler built-in under a counter in your dining room, living room, kitchen, or butler’s pantry may be the perfect option for you.

To get the best wine coolers and fridges, all it takes is a little research. You may decide you want a dual-zone cooler for short-term storage. If you want to have a large wine refrigerator, something for long-term storage, choose a fridge with a solid door that isn’t made of glass to protect the wine from light.

A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine.

By Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, French gastronome (1755-1826)

Wine Cooler Cabinet in a Wet Bar or Dry Bar

When you design your home wet bar or dry bar, plan a built-in wine cooler. Give yourself all the storage space you need for your glass stemware, wine, spirits, and chilling buckets. Your bar will be the center of attention when you have guests over.

For some practical wet bar ideas and dry bar inspiration, check out our custom wet bar above and our other home bars throughout the post.

Closet Wine Cellar

If you want to keep your wine somewhere dark and out of sight, a closet wine cellar may be a perfect choice. The wine is sheltered from UV rays and you can even create a wet bar or dry bar there in the closet, ready for entertaining at a moment’s notice.

Wine Cellar in the Floor

If you prefer a hidden wine cellar, perhaps one with a trap door in the floor would be your style. Opt for a hinged door that looks just like your kitchen floor or go for a clear hinged door that allows you to see into the cellar while walking on the door above.

Wine Cellar Under-the-Stairs

Homeowners get very creative in their under-the-stairs wine storage solutions. Create a custom wine cellar with glass walls and LED lights under your entryway stairs. Or install some wine cubbies and a dry bar and wine cooler in that space that may ordinarily be wasted.

Wine is sunlight, held together by water.

Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer (1564-1642)

Professional Wine Storage

If you are interested in aging and storing a large wine collection, it’s time to think about building a custom home wine cellar in your basement. Consider a design consultation about a standalone cooling unit to keep your wine cellar temperature perfect and a humidifier for your wine cellar to keep the ideal relative humidity for your investment.

Wine cellar designs are practically limitless. Choose from floor to ceiling wine racks made of wood, metal, or acrylic. Acrylic and glass wine cellars are very popular today, as well. For some examples of home custom wine cellar designs, explore the possibilities at Wine Cellar Innovations or Wine Racks America.