Ready To Get Your Côte On? A couple of years ago, social media was all a-twitter about a picture of a dress. People couldn't agree on the color. How can people look at something so apparently obvious and reach such different conclusions? There is a parallel with tasting wine.... The way a wine looks can tell you quite a bit about it, including how old it may be, whether it’s from a cool or warm climate and if it may have been aged in oak. That’s all useful in blind tasting, but not relevant to scores. The factors critics do consider are clarity, brightness, color, color depth and uniformity.... Maison Louis Latour is more than just a negociant. Within its family of companies is Domaine Louis Latour, the largest owner of Grand Cru acreage in Burgundy. Nearly 70 of Domaine Louis Latour’s 118.6 total acres of Burgundian vines there are Grand Cru. Another 34 acres are Premier Cru....Wine cellars are specifically designed so as to create an ideal storing and aging environment for your fine wine and favorite bottles.

With expertly crafted cooling systems, well insulated walls, and other light protecting materials, there is no question that the environment inside your wine cellar is perfect, but what about the environment outside your cabinet? Much emphasis is placed on the wine cellar's internal environment; however, in order to ensure that a wine cellar works properly, special attention should be paid to where you locate your wine cellar and how you place your wine cellar in its location. While wine cellars offer miraculous abilities to cool the air inside their expertly crafted interior to the appropriate wine storing temperature and to maintain ideal humidity, wine cellars work best when placed in locations of ambient temperature zones. Wine Cellars and Ambient Temperatures: Wine cellars are designed to cool 30°F cooler than the temperature zone to which they exhaust. For this reason it is best to place your wine cellar somewhere where the temperature does not exceed 85°F in the summer or drop below 30°F in the winter.

If such temperature variations do occur, your wine cellar will not be able to maintain the ideal zone of 55°F inside the cabinet at all times. Wine Cellars in Living Areas: The living area of your home is usually defined as your kitchen, living room, dining room, etc. If you have the space, living areas are great places to store a wine cellar as ambient temperature zones are most likely to occur inside your house. In addition, wine cellars located in close to proximity of where you will be consuming your wine are always nice! Wine Cellars in Utility Areas: Perhaps your home can not quite accommodate the size of your chosen wine cellar, or the wine cellar does not match your décor or you simply have the perfect garage or basement for storing a wine cabinet. Whatever your reason is for storing your wine cellar in a utility area, they are an excellent location as long the temperature in the room fluctuates no more than 30°F above or below the recommended wine aging temperature of 55°F.

Keeping ambient temperature in mind, storing wine cellars in utility rooms can be a great option as your unit does not necessarily have to resemble a fine piece of furniture. The money you save on aesthetics can be invested in other features such as a unit with an excellent cooling system or racking system. wine of fire franceOnce you determine a location for your wine cellar, you must take into consideration the following factors regarding how to place your wine cellar in your room. best wine for painWine Cellars and Wall Placement: Many wine cellars must be placed at least 4 to 6 inches away from the wall in order for your wine cellar's cooling system to operate properly and efficiently. best texas wine clubSome manufacturers, like La Cache, employ unique top-venting technology that allows you to place your wine cabinet flush against a wall.

However, it is important to be aware that there is enough space for your wine cellar to exhaust to between the ceiling and the cabinet in top venting units. Wine Cellars and Floor Surfaces: Wine cellars must be placed on firm and flat surfaces such as hard wood floors or concrete in order to ensure the unit remains level. If you are planning to place your wine cellar on carpet, place a hard and level board down for your unit to rest.How to Store a Wine Collection If you’ve decided to collect wine — or if you discover that a wine collection is happening to you — please take heed: Poorly stored wines make disappointment after disappointment inevitable. If you plan to keep wines indefinitely, you really need a wine storage facility with controlled temperature and humidity. This is especially important if you live where the temperature exceeds 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) for any length of time. Without proper storage, you may be tempted to drink those fine wines long before they reach their best drinking period (known in wine circles as infanticide), or worse yet, the wines may die an untimely death in your closet, garage, or warm cellar.

If you plan to build a wine cellar or buy a wine cabinet, allow for expansion in your wine collection. You may be fortunate enough to have conditions suitable for a passive wine cellar (if you live in the cool Northeastern United States or in Canada, if your cellar is below ground and not heated, or if you’ve recently inherited a castle in Scotland, for example.) If the place where you intend to store your wine is very cool year-round (below 60 degrees Fahrenheit, 15.5 degrees Celsius) and very damp (75 percent humidity or higher), you can be the lucky owner of a passive cellar. (It’s called passive because you don’t have to do anything to it, such as cool it or humidify it.) Usually, only deep cellars completely below ground level with thick stones or comparable insulation can be completely passive in temperate climates. Passive cellars are certainly the ideal way to store wines. And you can save a lot of money on their upkeep to boot. If you don’t have a space that’s already ideal for a passive wine cellar, you might decide that you can dig one.

For instructions on building your own passive wine cellar, see Richard M. Gold’s authoritative book, How and Why to Build a Wine Cellar (Board and Bench Publishing). Most wine collectors are neither lucky enough to have a passive wine cellar nor fortunate enough to be able to create one without extraordinary expense and trouble. But second best — a mechanically cooled and/or humidified room — is far better than a laissez-faire approach. The following are key features of a good wine storage area: The temperature stays cool — ideally, in the 53 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit range (12 to 16 degrees Celsius). The temperature is fairly constant; wide swings in temperature aren’t good for the wine. The area is damp or humid, with a minimum of 70 percent humidity and a maximum of 95 percent (mold sets in above 95 percent). The area is free from vibrations, which can travel through the wine; heavy traffic and motors cycling on and off — such as in refrigerators — are detrimental to your wine.

The area is free from light, especially direct sunlight; the ultraviolet rays of the sun are especially harmful to wine. The storage area is free from chemical odors, such as paints, paint remover, and so on. Whatever area you use, your wine will keep well provided that the space has a climate control unit and is properly insulated. Buy a hygrometer for your wine storage area. A good can hygrometer can give a both the percentage of humidity and a digital reading of the temperature. Avoid refrigerators for wine storage. Don’t leave good wine or Champagne in the refrigerator for more than a week; not only is the refrigerator motor harmful, but the excessively cold temperature (as low as 35 degrees Fahrenheit, 1.6 degrees Celsius) tends to numb and flatten the flavors of the wine. You can find professional cooling devices advertised in wine accessory catalogs and wine magazines. These climate-control units humidify and cool the air of a room. They come in various capacities to suit rooms of different dimensions.

Many require professional installation. Depending on where you live, you may not need to run your cooling unit all year. Consider following the local seasons if the temperature is accurate. Racking systems vary from elaborate redwood racks to simple metal or plastic types. The choice of material and configuration really hinges on how much you want to spend and your own personal taste. Large, diamond-shaped wooden (or synthetic composition) racks are popular because they efficiently store eight or more bottles per section and make maximum use of space. Such racks permit the easy removal of individual bottles. A rack configuration that gives each wine its own cubbyhole is more expensive; if you’re checking out such racks, consider whether any of your oversized bottles may be too large to fit the cubbyholes. Some collectors prefer to store their wine in the wines’ original wooden crates. (You can also usually pick up empty wooden crates in wine stores.) The crates are beneficial for storing wine because the wine remains in a dark environment inside the case, and the temperature changes very slowly thanks to the mass of wine bottles packed together in the closed case.