A wine storage facility normally built underground for storing wines in bottles and barrels is called a wine cellar. A wine cellar has to have a favorable environment to ensure that the wine stored there remains in its fresh state even after many years. The humidity and temperature of a wine cellar should be carefully monitored in order to guarantee that the wine remains fresh in the cellar. When a wine cellar is built above the ground, it is referred to as a wine room while those that contain less than 500 bottles are referred to as wine closets. The main purpose of building a wine cellar is to protect the wine from environmental factors that will compromise the quality such as light and high temperatures. Since wine is a food product that can go bad after some time, it should be protected from temperature fluctuations, vibrations, humidity changes and light. If wine is stored properly in a wine cellar, it can stay fresh for many years and even become better with time based on the aroma and flavor.
For a wine cellar to be rated as good, it should be able to keep the wine in its original freshness and also improve its quality. 5-18 C is the right temperature in a good wine cellar with variations also should be avoided. The temperature changes should also be regulated to ensure that it does not change by more than 10 C at any given time. In the past, the French stored their wines in caves at these temperatures and that is how people gauge the level of temperature for wine storage. When the temperature of a wine cellar is too high, the wine will mature faster than it should and therefore miss out on some steps that give it the qualities of a well matured wine. If a wine has matured too fast, it will taste like vinegar as opposed to regular wines that have a sweet and savory taste.
Active and passive are the two cooling systems of a wine cellar. Wine cellars with active cooling systems need proper insulation and professional construction. These are special wine cooling systems that have to be installed to ensure that the temperature and humidity are maintained at the correct levels. Unless the weather is too hot, most people do not use the active cooling systems for their wine cellars. Passively cooled wine cellars are located in areas that are naturally cool and have very few seasonal changes. Passive cooling does not require any energy to work and is used mainly in basement wine cellars. They are therefore cheaper albeit unreliable sometimes.