Modern Design: Home Wine Cellar

The first wine cellars were Europe’s ancient, damp, and chilly catacombs - burial grounds and tunnels that often began as natural caves. According to archaeological findings, grape lovers in Iran and Georgia were making and drinking wine as early as 6,000 BC, that’s 2,000 years before anyone could write, let alone design a cool bottle label. After a few centuries of sharing shelf space with bones, the French (of course) began to dig wine caves especially to house their beloved vin.

The modern in-home wine cellar is modeled after the consistent storing conditions provided by the caves that allowed wine to age safely at a leisurely pace. Conventional wisdom designates a cellar temperature range of 55-58 degrees and 55-75% relative humidity. Light, heat, vibrations, and humidity fluctuations are the enemy.

Whipple Russell Architects has designed wine cellars for many clients; our latest was for our project on Laurel Way in Beverly Hills, and was a very modern take on the wine cave, with a glass ceiling and heavy glass doors. Low heat lighting and low UV glass, the latest technology in cooling and air flow are all essential to the design. Steel posts that support each bottle were supplied by Vin de Garde, and Brownlow+Chen made the chocolate brown cabinetry.