How To Start A Wine Cellar – Wine Guy Secrets

A wine cellar is a collection of wine specifically put aside to mature in the bottle. Where you store it is a different conversation but is also a wine cellar. It is, therefore, possible to have a wine cellar with no wine in it. Or a wine cellar with nowhere to put it.

When I was new to the wine industry, full of enthusiasm but being paid $22,000 per year, I didn’t have a lot of free income to spend on wine (well, anything) and especially not to spend on a wine cellar.

At that stage, common sense would say not to start. But I was young, had been exposed to mature wine and knew how great an experience it can be. And I also knew that the longer I waited, the longer I’d have to wait for that first bottle to be ready to drink.

So I started. With a tiny budget and a very unscientific method, I landed on my perfect answer:

Two bottles.

The rationale for two bottles? If the first one is too young, I’ve got another one to leave. If it is corked, I’ve got another one. Or if it is absolutely scrumptious, hey I’ve got another one I can drink right now. And what a winning strategy that proved to be. Seven years down the track, I had a diverse and interesting range of wines that followed what I was interested in at the time of purchase. When we got 7 – 10 years down the track, not only did I have all this yummy wine to drink, but I had all these fond memories of when I was starting out and discovering wine. I still remember the feelings, smells and smiles from back then. That is the magic of cellaring wine.

As I got older, I got slightly more scientific and came up with my “replacement rate”. Or how many 5/10/15 year old wines do you want to drink per week on average. If it is two old bottles then, on average, you need to put down two bottles per week for 5/10/15 years.

You can use the form at the bottom of this page to  see the sums for yourself.

Who needs a wine cellar?

• Are you a wine lover ready to take that love to the next step?
• Do you entertain your friends with lavish food at dinner parties but serve current-release wine?
• Does your work allow/expect you to take clients out and show them a good time, and do you want to make it more memorable?
• Are you a collector of fine things looking for a new challenge?
• Does the process fascinate you? Even if you are not a wine lover per se?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, then it is time for you to take action.

How to start a wine cellar with almost no effort.

I used to read back labels (or try, some are … interesting), scoured hundreds of wine reviews, subscribed to wine writers’ sites, but the truth is that they didn’t help me start. And I’d spent countless hours and dollars on unnecessary tasks and products.

I resolved to keep it simple and stick to what I know. The wines that tasted so good that they stuck in my mind, even if I didn’t take notes or review my notes. My guide was a wine must:

1. Be a reasonable price
2. Have made me want to know how it will evolve with time
3. Stick in my head like an earworm. A winemite?

I did have a head start because, at that stage, I was regularly tasting 50-100 wines per week. The good news is you don’t have to taste that much wine; to be honest, most of what I tasted was in the band of, “it’s ok, not bad, nice, good for the price, unremarkable, I wouldn’t tip this into the flower pot”.

The truth is the wine just has to interest you; if you look at my guide, I didn’t say it had to be good or proven to age well. That is not the point when you start a cellar!

You can always lean on my 20-plus years of experience to help guide you as to wines to taste and wines to put away.

Starting a wine cellar isn’t about waiting

This is about much more than waiting. A wine cellar gives you:

• the impetus to actively enjoy wine and consider what you like about it.
• confidence to talk about wine and engage with it wherever you are.
• the flexibility to drink what interests you.
• the anticipation like when you were a kid and the show just couldn’t come quick enough.
• a sense of accomplishment when you drink a wine at its absolute peak (and believe me, you will know!).
• some diversity to your drinking. It means that no matter what you like in the future, you’ve looked after yourself.
• an understanding of your palate.

Where are you going to store it all?

This is the other great big hurdle that collectors encounter. Boxes in the way, rooms devoted to bottles, fridges drawing power and filling up vital kitchen space, excavations and the steep climb down while carrying heavy boxes. And then there is that temptation to make a late-night raid for just one more bottle. You can also store externally, but you need to be packing and unpacking boxes, moving five to get one bottle, filling out catalogues, outgrowing your space or paying for a lot of empty space that isn’t being used.

They are all perfectly fine and work for a lot of people. However, I have a temperature and humidity-controlled locker that offers perfect conditions for wine to mature gracefully. Out of the way, your wines will lay in the dark, unmoved and in luxury: Exactly how they like it! And I am willing to look after your wines for you. It costs as little as $3 per dozen per month.

BUT…

If you are committed to cellaring, I am committed to helping you achieve that goal. So I have an offer for you.

Postdate your storage bill.

You’ve read this far, so you now know the cost to start a cellar is actually pretty small. Especially compared to the joy it will bring in the future. But to make it easier still, I am going to offer to store your wine for free. I cannot overstate how much joy a wine cellar has brought me. When I started The Wine Depository, my goal was to help people start a cellar and maintain their cellar because I believe it is a lost art.

To get free storage for the life of your wine, all you have to do is start and then keep adding to your cellar. Simply put:

• Buy two bottles per week (on average).
• The value of each bottle will be $30 or more (on average).
• After each three-month period, we’ll review and continue, or stop.

If you choose to stop, we can revert to standard pricing, or you can take your wine home with you.

Do you have other wines you want stored? I can do those, too.

It makes sense to me … what do you think?

Call 0418 23 04 82 to chat to Phil