Building a wine cellar in the home is a dream of any wine enthusiast. From discovering your personal taste and curating your favourites, to organizing your collection by vintage, starting your own wine collection is sure to be rewarding. And like French art and classic cars, bottles of wine have the potential to be coveted collector’s items that increase in value – your new wine collection is the perfect place for safe keeping.
In this article, we’re introducing the basics to get your new wine collection off the ground.
Discover Your Personal Taste
The first stage of building a personal wine collection is to uncover your preferences and unique taste. Maybe you have a specific grape that you can’t get enough of, or a favourite wine producer. If you’re still trying to figure it out, your local liquor store is a great place to start.
When it comes to building out your collection, you’ll definitely want to make sure your favourites are well stocked. But be careful to leave room for newcomers. Your taste for wine will likely evolve over time, and it’s always nice to have a wide variety at hand.
Find the Space for a Wine Collection
Perhaps the trickiest part of building a wine collection for many will be the logistical challenge of storage. Wine can be slightly temperamental, which means it can’t just be stored anywhere like your old clothes, golf clubs or furniture.
A common misconception about wine cellars is that they require tons of space. But in reality, you don’t need a big house in the suburbs just to collect wine. Even a small apartment can accommodate. Especially when you’re just getting started, a spare closet will do just fine.
If you’ve got plenty of space and you’re ready to go all in on a new wine collection, there are a couple considerations to make for an ideal storage space.
- Light – Probably the most important factor for wine storage is the limiting of natural light. Wine needs a dark space to avoid going bad.
- Temperature – Wine is also picky about temperature. Preferring a cool environment, around 8-18°C, the basement is usually the best place for wine storage. Avoid warmer areas like the attic or kitchen, and keep in mind the lower end of the temperature range is best for whites, with the upper for reds.
- Disruption – Physical disruption is often overlooked. When the wine vibrates, the chemical composition can actually change. High-traffic areas should be avoided for wine storage, along with the laundry room and any rooms with slamming doors.
Selecting Wines
After you’ve picked up your favourite wines to get your collection off the ground, it’s time to start building out a well-balanced cellar.
It’s never a bad idea to start with the classics. Classic wine varieties are time-tested, sure to please guests and dinner parties. Plus, it’s often the classics that hold their value over time. When looking for classics, you can’t miss with wine regions like Bordeaux (France), Tuscany (Italy), Rioja (Spain) and Napa Valley (USA).
After you’ve built out your wine collection with a sturdy number of personal favourites and timeless classics, this is where you can start to diversify. Think about stocking a nice balance of reds and whites, while mixing in both younger and older wine varieties.
Organize Your Collection
In the early stages, it’s likely that the thrill of collecting wines will overtake your ability to properly organize and inventory the bottles. It can be difficult to keep track of everything without a system for organization.
For organizing anything, you can’t go wrong with a trusty spreadsheet. An organization system like this will allow you to track individual bottles including vintage, region, location in your cellar, and the date you purchased. You can even include tasting notes and personal ratings to help keep track of what’s in storage. If you want to take it a step further, there are apps available that allow wine collectors to scan bottles and manage everything in-app.
Investing in Wine
For some, a personal wine collection is about more than having a balanced selection to drink on a regular basis. The investment opportunity is real. If you’re interested in acquiring bottles of wine that will increase in value over time, there are some safer bets. High-end Burgundy is one of the most well-known wines to fetch exorbitant prices, along with Champagne, and Barolo from Italy.
But if you’re serious about collecting wine for investment purposes, your success will rely on plenty of research. If this is something you’re interested in, be sure to regularly consult a wine appraisal specialist to get an accurate estimation of the value of your collection, noting it down in your inventory database as you go.
If you’re ready to begin collecting wines in your personal cellar, Springs Group liquor stores are a great place to start. With 15 liquor store locations from Vancouver Island to the Fraser Valley, we’ve got an impressive collection of local and international wines that are always nearby. Stop by today and get help from our friendly staff.
