Anyone who is a fan of wine - or beautifully shot tv shows for that matter - should have watched the 2023 Apple TV+ series Drops of God. In brief, the series follows two half-siblings in competition to inherit the multi-million dollar wine collection of their enologist father. What is most striking about the series is the vast wine cellar installed underneath the father’s house. It holds some 87,000 bottles, is temperature and humidity controlled (of course) and bathed in a comforting dim light. In the middle of the vaulted paradise, an antique Turkish rug is topped with an arrangement of seats and a table - a spot to drink wine. Though this one is a rather extreme example (and fictional), such things exist IRL too. Take members' clubs such as Oswald’s in Mayfair – its impressive wine cellar is as much of an attraction for its patrons as the central London location or much admired-food. Or the recently opened Row on 5, the latest restaurant from chef Jason Atherton on Savile Row, in which a Smallbone-designed ‘wine room’ demands just as much attention in the space as the kitchen. These concepts trickle down the ladder, eventually pooling in our very own homes. Today, you are either someone who does have specialist wine storage in their house, or, l'horreur, doesn’t.
‘Maybe people are staying at home more, and want to entertain at home more too’, muses the interior designer Henriette Von Stockhausen, who is increasingly asked to incorporate superior wine storage into the houses she designs. These range from the relatively modest wine fridges integrated into the kitchen joinery or a repurposed antique cabinet, to a full 300 square metre cellar which occupies the whole lower-ground footprint of a former rectory in Devon. Her most impressive one to date, it features bespoke wine fridges incorporated into the original brick-lined eaves of the space. Crittall doors separated two clearly delineated areas (lest it feel too cavernous), while soft lighting and antiques add a sense of old-world elegance.
For projects of this scale, however, the technical bits are often left to the professionals. Companies such as Wine Corner and Artisan Cellars are in the business of building bespoke, hi-tech wine storage. ‘For wine collectors, the cellar is a deeply personal space. We have worked on projects that will store up to 15,000 bottles. Some people want to keep cigars and fur coats down there too, so they can sit and enjoy a smoke and a glass of wine,’ says Irwen Martin of Wine Corner. Such an elaborate operation will certainly set you back, though. A full wine cellar for 15,000 bottles complete with fingerprint entry, bespoke oak shelving (the best material, as it is resistant to humidity) and specialised limestone floor pre-soaked in wine (for the traditional cellar aroma) can cost anywhere from £15,000 to a whopping £300,000. Increasingly popular, I learn, are converted larders or pantry rooms. ‘These areas can be much smaller and don’t have to be underground, so they are much easier to build. You just need to make sure the temperature stays between 12 and 15 degrees, the humidity between 75 and 85 percent, and the UV-resistant, sealed glass doors at least 15 millimetres thick’, Irwen explains. More moderate structures like this cost from £3,000 - £4,000, though can double up as a ‘respite-during-heatwave-room’ or ‘large salad crisper’ if you’re looking for a justification.
‘So what’s the point?’, I ask. After all, studies do show that as a nation we drink significantly less (36% of adults drink alcohol less often than monthly, or not at all - up from 30% in 2018, according to drinkaware.co.uk). Is it all for show, or is there a genuine concern among homeowners surrounding how best to store wine? ‘Both’, is the answer supplied by Henriette. ‘I find people drink less but they care more about what they are drinking, and are willing to invest in it more. In America there is definitely more of a showy element to wine cellars’, she says. ‘They tend to be a part of larger luxury entertainment spaces. You will often find a games room or a cinema room nearby. The idea is you can bring your friends down there, let them pick out a bottle of wine, open it and have a glass together, it’s a ritual and it’s rather fun’.
When it comes to cellars to impress guests, one in particular springs to mind. The ‘spiral cellar’, built into the floor and accessible by a glass hatch (which also provides a window into your impressive collection), is firmly on the A-list of wine storage. Unlike its refrigerated counterpart, the spiral cellar is not temperature-controlled, and instead relies on the ambient temperature of the ground to keep the wine cool. While some may worry that with the climate rising the way it is, this is a bit risky, specialists at Spiral Cellars reassure me that the underground structures 'are fitted with external vent pipes that continuously draw cool, fresh air into the cellar, thereby forcing any air out that has started to warm or go stale'. The capacity of these varies based on the depth of the cellar, and can cost between £25,000 and £83,000.
For something more achievable, a bespoke wine cabinet might be the way to go. Where space is more limited, say in a townhouse in London, your wine storage may need to be more discrete - perhaps built into a cabinet or a bespoke piece of furniture as interior designers Steph Hill and Honor Devereux have recently done in the Chelsea home of a wine-enthusiast. ‘The property is listed so we couldn’t build a wine cellar. The owner wanted to preserve a few of his favourite bottles and create a space for entertaining, but it had to be beautiful and couldn’t jar with the aesthetic in the rest of the house’ says Steph. They turned to Rupert Bevan to design a bespoke oak and marble cabinet. ‘The owner wanted easy access to his favourite bottles, and with the little fridges in the bottom filled with beer and water, it’s a great place to have guests’.
If a bespoke, built-in structure still feels like too much of a commitment, an off-the-peg wine fridge might be the ticket. Many kitchen appliance companies offer a variety of choices. Smeg, famed for its retro-style fridges, has a number of incredibly stylish wine storage solutions. An entry level wine fridge - that’s to say, one which blocks harmful UV light, has different temperature zones for different shelves and also filters the air going into the fridge to avoid bottle contamination - costs from £1,889. Its most advanced, which is four times the size and can store 197 bottles costs £2,359. A similarly smart arrangement from V-Zug costs between £3,585 and £11,500.
It may not be the first thing you consider when redesigning your house, but if we have learned anything it is that sooner or later, it will be something you think about. Whether you’re going the whole hog and doing a full basement transformation extravaganza, or carving out some space in your existing joinery for a wine fridge, it is certainly the coolest thing to incorporate into your house at the moment.
