The Wine cellar is what it says on the tin, it is a storage room used more commonly to store wine bottles or barrels. It can also be used for storage of other materials, however as stated it is most commonly used for bottles or barrels of wine.
There are two distinctions between wine cellars, you have active wine cellars and passive wine cellars. Active wine cellars need important elements such as temperature, humidity and climate control systems. Passive wine cellars in contrast are more for show and do not need climate or humidity control, they also tend to be built underground to reduce the chance of temperature rises. On the other hand, often misconstrued as wine cellars, above ground wine cellars are actually known as wine rooms, and further to this, a small wine cellar with fewer bottles than 500 is actually called a wine closet. Wine cellars are a big part of British tradition and go back as far as medieval times, dating back to 3700 years ago.
The purpose of wine cellars is to use the climate, temperature and humidity control systems to then protect alcohol from potentially harmful influences. They are also usually built underground to provide the wine with a dark environment. Wine is a natural perishable food made from the fermentation of fruit, therefore, left exposed to heat, light or fluctuations of temperature or humidity, wine can be seriously damaged or spoil very quickly. If properly stored, however, wines can not only maintain their quality but they do in fact improve in quality, flavour, aroma and complexity, this is achieved through the aging and maturing process.
Here at 1st Option we have a wide array of wine cellars, wine rooms and wine closets. Hadlow in Kent is a prime example of an active wine cellar, it is built underground with more than 500 bottles and has a temperature control system to help with maintaining the quality of the wine. Similarly, Portico in Wilshire is another example of your traditional wine cellar built underground, with temperature control and idyllic exposed brick that really catches your attention. If you are looking for that traditional wine cellar look then either of these are perfect. In contrast, we also have wine cellars and wine closets that tend to be built into people’s houses and are much smaller much like Archer, Abbeville or Woodhaven.