Unfinished basement become wine cellar
On its side is the correct storage position for a bottle. That way the cork is kept wet to prevent airborne organism from spooling the wine. Traditionally, bottles lie in racks with corks facing out so you can get a good grip on the bottle necks. Some cellar owners string small ID tags around the next. Other labels each position in the rack. Whatever your retrieval system, you will want to keep a log of all your wines and their locations.
Sunlight and other sources of ultraviolet light harm wine because they affect the yeast organism still alive in the bottle. Make your wine room light-tight, but include good artificial lighting so you can tell the Riesling from the Rhine.
Take unfinished 10 by 12 basements. Line it with 3-1/2 inch insulation, install storage bins, panel the room in redwood, and you have a good start on building this wine cellar. For décor, wrap posts and beams with redwood 1 by 6s, add decorative corner brackets and encircle one beam with a round table for tasting. On the ceiling, pine lath laid diagonally across tar paper creates a vineyard trellis effect.
Closet cellar
A closet is for hanging coats, right? Not always. Here’s a 38 inch wide, 26 inch deep closet that’s an insulated artificially cooled cellar. Refrigerant lines and the heavily insulated walls and door keep the wine collection at a constant 580 F.
All in all you’ll be able to store 6 cases and 336 bottles in such a closet: full cases on the floor: red one bottles stacked two deep in the middle section, and longer white wine bottles placed one deep on top. Two special displays shelves can show off your rare vintages.