Ok, moved to this house recently that is really nice, but comes
without a cellar due to flooding in the area (not the house itself).
But what to do with 200+ bottles of reasonably fine wine that needs to
be stored. Drinking up is not an option = waste of money. The obvious
answer is a wine fridge. But they are super large and sturdy and still
only provide limited storage. For my number of bottles they cost
around a 1000 pounds, which I would rather spend on some more wine.

Under stairs cupboard seems to be the answer that everybody
recommends, but we keep shoes in the understairs as well and as
hygienic as we are we would still not want the Chateau Latour (wishful
thinking) to taste of my old trainers 8-(( And cork, as wine lover
will tell you, is no barrier for most smells (including spice and
herbs in the kitchen btw). The last option I can think of is the
garden shed. Now we live in the North where temps don't raise very
high in the summer; I have no problem to allow the temp to reach 20C
or so for a few days/weeks and I have no problem to allow the temp to
go down to about 10C or so. But how to achieve this?

My limited knowledge of thermal insulation indicates that it should be
possible to get somewhere by insulating a compartment of the shed
maybe from the ground to halfway up at the farthest end. That limits
the door heat/cold and also keeps temperature reasonably cold, as the
ground level away from the sun is rather fresh in the first place. But
if I overdo my insulation, then my Chateau Latour starts to pick up
the smell of the insulating material. By and large, wine should be
stored in reasonably ventilated areas. And here is where my wisdom
ends, I cannot insulate against heat yet allow ventilation without
some or another cooling device. Or can I?

Fred

Did I really write winer cellar in the subject? There are spelling
errors and total blunders, apologies for contributing to the latter
category. F.

(Fred) wrote:

Ok, moved to this house recently that is really nice, but comes
without a cellar due to flooding in the area (not the house itself).
But what to do with 200+ bottles of reasonably fine wine that needs to
be stored. Drinking up is not an option = waste of money. The obvious
answer is a wine fridge. But they are super large and sturdy and still
only provide limited storage. For my number of bottles they cost
around a 1000 pounds, which I would rather spend on some more wine.

Under stairs cupboard seems to be the answer that everybody
recommends, but we keep shoes in the understairs as well and as
hygienic as we are we would still not want the Chateau Latour (wishful
thinking) to taste of my old trainers 8-(( And cork, as wine lover
will tell you, is no barrier for most smells (including spice and
herbs in the kitchen btw). The last option I can think of is the
garden shed. Now we live in the North where temps don't raise very
high in the summer; I have no problem to allow the temp to reach 20C
or so for a few days/weeks and I have no problem to allow the temp to
go down to about 10C or so. But how to achieve this?

My limited knowledge of thermal insulation indicates that it should be
possible to get somewhere by insulating a compartment of the shed
maybe from the ground to halfway up at the farthest end. That limits
the door heat/cold and also keeps temperature reasonably cold, as the
ground level away from the sun is rather fresh in the first place. But
if I overdo my insulation, then my Chateau Latour starts to pick up
the smell of the insulating material. By and large, wine should be
stored in reasonably ventilated areas. And here is where my wisdom
ends, I cannot insulate against heat yet allow ventilation without
some or another cooling device. Or can I?

Fred

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 23:30:01 UTC, (Fred) wrote:

Ok, moved to this house recently that is really nice, but comes
without a cellar due to flooding in the area (not the house itself).
But what to do with 200+ bottles of reasonably fine wine that needs to
be stored. Drinking up is not an option = waste of money. The obvious
answer is a wine fridge. But they are super large and sturdy and still
only provide limited storage. For my number of bottles they cost
around a 1000 pounds, which I would rather spend on some more wine.

This *might* be an option. Haven't looked at their prices recently, and
it's a Flash site so I haven't looked now...but it's interesting
anyway...

http://www.spiralcellars.co.uk

--
Bob Eager
begin a new life...dump Windows!

"Bob Eager" wrote:

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 23:30:01 UTC, (Fred) wrote:

Ok, moved to this house recently that is really nice, but comes
without a cellar due to flooding in the area (not the house itself).
But what to do with 200+ bottles of reasonably fine wine that needs to
be stored. Drinking up is not an option = waste of money. The obvious
answer is a wine fridge. But they are super large and sturdy and still
only provide limited storage. For my number of bottles they cost
around a 1000 pounds, which I would rather spend on some more wine.

This *might* be an option. Haven't looked at their prices recently, and
it's a Flash site so I haven't looked now...but it's interesting
anyway...

http://www.spiralcellars.co.uk

--
Bob Eager
begin a new life...dump Windows!

What a cool idea. I wish I had the dough for that sort of thing. But
paying workmen for four days to dig a hole in my garden is just the
sort of crazy idea that I would love to do.

F.

"Fred" wrote in message
...
Ok, moved to this house recently that is really nice, but comes
without a cellar due to flooding in the area (not the house itself).
But what to do with 200+ bottles of reasonably fine wine that needs to
be stored. Drinking up is not an option = waste of money. The obvious
answer is a wine fridge. But they are super large and sturdy and still
only provide limited storage. For my number of bottles they cost
around a 1000 pounds, which I would rather spend on some more wine.

Under stairs cupboard seems to be the answer that everybody
recommends, but we keep shoes in the understairs as well and as
hygienic as we are we would still not want the Chateau Latour (wishful
thinking) to taste of my old trainers 8-(( And cork, as wine lover
will tell you, is no barrier for most smells (including spice and
herbs in the kitchen btw). The last option I can think of is the
garden shed. Now we live in the North where temps don't raise very
high in the summer; I have no problem to allow the temp to reach 20C
or so for a few days/weeks and I have no problem to allow the temp to
go down to about 10C or so. But how to achieve this?

My limited knowledge of thermal insulation indicates that it should be
possible to get somewhere by insulating a compartment of the shed
maybe from the ground to halfway up at the farthest end. That limits
the door heat/cold and also keeps temperature reasonably cold, as the
ground level away from the sun is rather fresh in the first place. But
if I overdo my insulation, then my Chateau Latour starts to pick up
the smell of the insulating material. By and large, wine should be
stored in reasonably ventilated areas. And here is where my wisdom
ends, I cannot insulate against heat yet allow ventilation without
some or another cooling device. Or can I?

Fred



how is it a waste of money to drink it? or is it an investment to resell?
surely consumption of the wine is the only real reason to purchase?

mrcheerful

"mrcheerful
.." wrote:


"Fred" wrote in message
...
Ok, moved to this house recently that is really nice, but comes
without a cellar due to flooding in the area (not the house itself).
But what to do with 200+ bottles of reasonably fine wine that needs to
be stored. Drinking up is not an option = waste of money. The obvious
answer is a wine fridge. But they are super large and sturdy and still
only provide limited storage. For my number of bottles they cost
around a 1000 pounds, which I would rather spend on some more wine.

Under stairs cupboard seems to be the answer that everybody
recommends, but we keep shoes in the understairs as well and as
hygienic as we are we would still not want the Chateau Latour (wishful
thinking) to taste of my old trainers 8-(( And cork, as wine lover
will tell you, is no barrier for most smells (including spice and
herbs in the kitchen btw). The last option I can think of is the
garden shed. Now we live in the North where temps don't raise very
high in the summer; I have no problem to allow the temp to reach 20C
or so for a few days/weeks and I have no problem to allow the temp to
go down to about 10C or so. But how to achieve this?

My limited knowledge of thermal insulation indicates that it should be
possible to get somewhere by insulating a compartment of the shed
maybe from the ground to halfway up at the farthest end. That limits
the door heat/cold and also keeps temperature reasonably cold, as the
ground level away from the sun is rather fresh in the first place. But
if I overdo my insulation, then my Chateau Latour starts to pick up
the smell of the insulating material. By and large, wine should be
stored in reasonably ventilated areas. And here is where my wisdom
ends, I cannot insulate against heat yet allow ventilation without
some or another cooling device. Or can I?

Fred



how is it a waste of money to drink it? or is it an investment to resell?
surely consumption of the wine is the only real reason to purchase?


No investment. If I was interested in investing I would only do so
with either wine fridge or really well thought out cellar. It's for my
own pleasure really as certain wines get much better over time. They
don't even have to be expensive, but made to age. I am regularly
buying lesser known wines from France, Spain and the New World that
improves mightily within about five years. Chateau Latour 2000, which
I don't have btw, would go for about maybe 200 pounds a bottle today,
but would not reach its best drinking age before about 2015-2020. In
that sense it would be a waste to drink now as much cheaper wine would
be as nice now and would not need to be opened 24 hours before
drinking or so. But the thing is, wine has to be made to keep these
days as the times are such that most customers do not want to let wine
mature in cellars for years. As I often buy bulk in Calais, I would
even get the storage problem for regular wines, but they would suffer
less from an understairs cupboard of course.

F.

"Fred" wrote in message
...

What a cool idea. I wish I had the dough for that sort of thing. But
paying workmen for four days to dig a hole in my garden is just the
sort of crazy idea that I would love to do.

Dig your own.

We excavated a WW2 air raid shelter under our garden, it's used for storage
and is perfect for wines.

Mary

F.

"mrcheerful ." wrote in message news:GIvod.20842

how is it a waste of money to drink it? or is it an investment to
resell? surely consumption of the wine is the only real reason to
purchase?

It is in our case. I couldn't understand that part of the post either ...

Mary

mrcheerful

"Fred" wrote in message
...

As I often buy bulk in Calais, I would
even get the storage problem for regular wines, but they would suffer
less from an understairs cupboard of course.

There are wine companies who will store wine for you in optimum conditions.

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 23:30:01 GMT, (Fred) wrote:

Now we live in the North where temps don't raise very
high in the summer; I have no problem to allow the temp to reach 20C
or so for a few days/weeks and I have no problem to allow the temp to
go down to about 10C or so. But how to achieve this?

Someone I once knew had a similar problem and used an old brick built
air raid shelter in their garden. They insulated it with about 6in
of foil lined Cellotex and excavated about 2ft of soil from inside.
Outside they built a deep french drain to keep the floor dry. It was
ventilated by a small fan at floor level and a roof vent (I gather
passive ventilation would have been preferred but as the original
building had no air bricks would have been difficult to achieve).
The temperature remained very steady throughout the year changing
only very slowly (which I'm told is more important than absolute
temperature).

In the absence of a suitable air raid shelter you might be able to do
similar by excavating a suitable hole and building a heavily
insulated brick structure.


--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/

In article , Mary
Fisher writes

"Fred" wrote in message
...

What a cool idea. I wish I had the dough for that sort of thing. But
paying workmen for four days to dig a hole in my garden is just the
sort of crazy idea that I would love to do.

Dig your own.

We excavated a WW2 air raid shelter under our garden, it's used for storage
and is perfect for wines.


Our neighbour dug his own in the base of the garage.

Complete with Aircon plant etc..
--
Tony Sayer

"Mary Fisher" wrote:


"Fred" wrote in message
...

As I often buy bulk in Calais, I would
even get the storage problem for regular wines, but they would suffer
less from an understairs cupboard of course.

There are wine companies who will store wine for you in optimum conditions.

I know a handful of those, to my knowledge they do only offer this for
bottles they have sold to me in the first place. And needless to say
that if I come home from Calais with 100-150 bottles to be drunk over
the course of two year, you need a very local firm in order to make
this worth your while. Yorkshire seems to be rather thin on those
firms in the first place.

But I am fascinated by your idea to dig one myself. Now the digging is
not the problem, trap door included. Stability wise this should not be
a problem but how does one tank such a cellar so that rising damp and
vermin does not go after the labels, cork; and if you succeed in doing
so you would have the ventilation problem unless you just use brick
walls, but I suspect that this in turn would get you condensation
issues. Had that in the last cellar I had, made the walls look pretty
bad...

Fred

Peter Parry wrote:

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 23:30:01 GMT, (Fred) wrote:

Now we live in the North where temps don't raise very
high in the summer; I have no problem to allow the temp to reach 20C
or so for a few days/weeks and I have no problem to allow the temp to
go down to about 10C or so. But how to achieve this?

Someone I once knew had a similar problem and used an old brick built
air raid shelter in their garden. They insulated it with about 6in
of foil lined Cellotex and excavated about 2ft of soil from inside.
Outside they built a deep french drain to keep the floor dry. It was
ventilated by a small fan at floor level and a roof vent (I gather
passive ventilation would have been preferred but as the original
building had no air bricks would have been difficult to achieve).
The temperature remained very steady throughout the year changing
only very slowly (which I'm told is more important than absolute
temperature).

In the absence of a suitable air raid shelter you might be able to do
similar by excavating a suitable hole and building a heavily
insulated brick structure.

An obvious place to do so would be the garden shed. But this one has a
backwall to the neighbours. Would digging internally and building up
brick walls to keep the hole stable affect the overall stability of
the shed? The last, yes last thing I would want is litterally dig in
my wine after piles of rubble from a collapsing shed. I am not that
keen on storing my bottles ;-)

F