A tiny space that used to be a kitchen pantry was renovated by Wine Cellar Specialists to add value to a home in San Antonio, Texas, and to provide a safe and beautiful storage area for the owner’s wine collection. This project won the ARC Awards Building Excellence 2012. Learn more about the custom features of this small wine storage facility.  

Outstanding Transformation of a Small Pantry Under the Stairs into a Home Wine Cellar in San Antonio

Collecting wine can be more enjoyable if you have a safe place that will protect your collection from harmful factors.  Wine cellar conversions are becoming popular among residential owners in the United States, including San Antonio, Texas. Nowadays, almost any space in your home can be remodeled to become a climate-controlled wine cellar.

Wine Cellar Specialists, one of our dealers in building wine rooms, always want their clients to have a wine room that is pleasing to the eye, maximizes storage capacity, and equipped with the right components to achieve the perfect conditions.

With passion, creativity, and extensive experience in wine cellar construction, they make their customers happy by providing them with the most innovative and cost-effective wine storage solutions.

They completed a wine closet conversion project for a client who wanted to turn an underutilized space into a functional cellar.

Awe-Inspiring Wine Cellar Design

You don’t need a large room to build a wine cellar in your San Antonio home. Wine Cellar Specialists have dealt with small spaces in the past. Their design team will make sure that the wine racks are constructed according to your room’s size, shape, and the number of bottles you intend to store and display.

After making a careful assessment of the client’s requirements, they came up with 3D drawings of the completed wine cellar, which show the room elevations, racking styles, and bottle capacities.

Wine Rack Features for Added Functionality, Beauty, and Stability

The challenges in this project are the limited space and the sloping ceiling. These problems did not stop Wine Cellar Specialists from creating a wine cellar that would make the owner proud.

One way to add character and functionality to a wine cellar is by combining different bottle orientations and adding features that maximize storage space. They also used a high-quality material for the racking.

Left Wall

When you enter the wine room, the left side of the wall has a slanting ceiling. The wine racks, which were designed with a descending height, are called waterfall wine racks. This area was intended for storing 750ml bottles individually.

The racking was constructed with a depth of 13 1/2 inches, crown molding at the top, and a 1 ½-inch toe-kick base molding.

Back Wall

The left side of the back wall consists of a shorter wine rack. The top section is a 3-deep horizontal wine rack, which stores the bottles on their sides with the label facing out.

For bulk storage, Wine Cellar Specialists added a double-deep X-bin rack at the bottom section. This orientation allows for storing bottles one on top of another. In addition to bulk storage, it also helps in better organization of wine.

It has four sections where the owner can sort the bottles according to variety or size. A tabletop was added above the X-bin wine rack to provide additional space for a few bottles. It also provides an area for decanting and serving wine.

On the right side of the back wall, you will find another wine rack designed for single bottle storage. In the middle section is a high reveal display row that displays the bottles at an angle.

Right Wall

Wine Cellar Specialists installed a 6-inches deep wine rack on the right wall. It has the same height as the door.

A wooden grill and cover was added on top of it to hide the cooling unit for this home wine cellar in San Antonio. The grill and cover looked bigger because the condensation pump was placed below the evaporator.

Ideal Choice of Wood for the Racking

Wood has been a favorite material for wine cellar racks. Its warmth provides a relaxing ambiance in your wine room.

On this closet wine cellar project, Wine Cellar Specialists installed wine racks made from Mahogany. This wood variety is stable and attractive. It can withstand the humid conditions in climate-controlled home wine cellars in San Antonio. The client chose to finish the wine racks with a lacquer to achieve a richer look.

How to Achieve Long-Term Enjoyment of Wine

One of the important considerations in wine cellar construction is making sure that the area is sealed properly to prevent external factors from interfering with the aging process of wine. This can be achieved by insulating the walls and ceiling of the room.

Your wine cellar builder must also determine the cooling system with the right style, size, and capacity. Without an efficient refrigeration unit, wine will deteriorate easily.

Proper Insulation – How it Protects Your Wine Collection

Why is it necessary to insulate the walls and ceiling of your wine cellar? Heat is the number one enemy of wine. When not regulated, it can result in premature aging of wine. The ideal temperature in a refrigerated wine cellar must range from 55 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

Variable humidity levels can also affect the quality of wine. If the humidity level is too low, the cork will shrink and lose its elasticity. The dried cork will allow an unwanted amount of oxygen to mix with the wine, resulting in spoilage.

Another effect of poor room insulation or no insulation at all is mold growth, which can weaken the structural integrity of the walls and wine racks. Molds can also damage the cork and wine labels.

On this project, Wine Cellar Specialists used green board to insulate the room. They also added a vapor barrier to help control the humidity levels by preventing condensation from forming.

Ideal Wine Cellar Cooling System for a Closet Home Wine Cellar in San Antonio

Wine Cellar Specialists used an RM 2600 refrigeration unit manufactured by US Cellar Systems. They mounted the evaporator in the right wall and concealed it in a wooden grill cover and box.

The compressor, which is the noisier component of a cooling system, was installed in the garage to reduce noise in the cellar. They added a condensation pump below the cooling unit because they could not run the drain line at an angle with the gravitational flow.

Convert Your Room Into a Functional Wine Room. Hire a Master Builder.

Don’t waste that extra space in your San Antonio home. Wine Cellar Specialists will transform it into a top-notch wine storage facility. Call them today at +1 (972) 454-0480!