Looking for a wine cellar that is durable and beautifully designed? IWA designs cellars you will want to show off to your friends, and what better way to enjoy your wine collection than inviting them into the cellar to see it.
The top concern of wine collectors who know they would like a beautiful cellar is the budget. The outcome of a good-looking custom wine cellar can be achieved with Vintner Kit Racking.
A recent project in Westminster, Colorado was created by IWA designer Bryan Adams. The client wanted a wine cellar with capacity for 800+ bottles that fit into their budget. Bryan took advantage of the wine racks from IWA’s Vintner Series to keep costs low. These wine racks are affordable and made with quality materials.
Matching the existing home decor was not a problem. To confirm the Vintner kit racking matched the decor, the client received several wood samples with various stain options to select a perfect match. The client was thrilled to choose the Prime Mahogany for the racking material and a Dark Walnut as the stain.
IWA offers the Vintner Series wine racks with choices of 3-foot or 4-foot heights for the wine racks. The variety of wood options and finishes lets you choose the best look for your home. You have the opportunity to mix and match components and heights with the flexibility of this wine rack series.
You can also have your very own custom wine cellar in your home and get ready to show off to your visitors. Contact Bryan Adams and have him design you a wine cellar that is beautiful yet will remain budget-friendly. You can either complete a design request form or call him at 800.527.4072. Check out more wine cellar projects designed by Bryan Adams here!
This beautiful, Contemporary Wine Cellar Design – Dayton Ohio Project was designed with aesthetics more than bottle capacity in mind. Regardless the room still boasts an 803 bottle capacity with room for 14 magnum bottles.
The Dayton Ohio home wine cellar to impress. The homeowner is a jeweler and owner of Jaffe Jewelers, with regional recognition. Beautiful millwork, spacious interior, surrounded in glass, the wine room brings a contemporary feel to the whole space. Modern style is achieved with brushed aluminum custom wine racks set to show off the wine in a simple yet artistic way.
Situated between windows and a wet bar, the wine room can be viewed from both inside and out.
Designed to be a very visible feature in the home, the room was constructed with windows on three sides to offer full view on both the aesthetics of the wine room and of course the owners wine collection as well. The design also allows for the beautiful Ohio landscape to be seen from the wet bar through the wine room.
Are you planning on a custom wine cellar project, but think you’re budget is tight? Custom designs are appealing but there are many options that kit or pre-manufactured wine cellar provide an impressive solution.
Bryan Adams wine cellar designer at IWA, took advantage of these opportunities with a recent residential wine cellar project in Randall, New Jersey. This budget conscious design used kit based wine racks to meet his clients tight budget needs.
The photos show that the budget didn’t have a big impact on the final wine cellars beautiful look.
The product requirement were to include a table top for opening and decanting, along with an archway display. Additional features of this functional wine storage room included back-lit wine display rows, with a capacity for 600 bottles with plenty of storage, made this a great solution for this project.
The wine racks chosen for this wine cellar design are from the WineMaker wine rack kit range. The WineMaker kits have a large selection and design options such as stack-able solutions that available in 3′ and 4′ heights, and wood selections in pine and premium redwood that can be stained and or lacquered. By choosing Premium Redwood with a natural finish for this project the room kept an organic feel.
International Wine Accessories is pleased to be able to showcase this Commercial Wine Cellar and Display project at Millesime Cellars in Camarillo a few miles North West of Los Angeles in California.
Our IWA wine cellar design consultant, Bryan Adams provided CAD drawings that show off the detail of the racking to allow the owners a preview of the racking before installation. See photos and read the whole story of this elegant commercial wine cellar installation on IWA.
Check out this contemporary residential wine cellar design by IWA. The strikes a contemporary look uses metal wine racks by Vintage View in a black finish. An extra bonus for the location is including earthquake resistant straps!
Jimmy Simmons, one of International Wine Accessories most experienced wine room designers took several requirements into account with this project. Taking advantage of a storage area that was below grade and outdoors, Jimmy created a fully climate controlled wine room. The clients wine collection was secured with special straps to keep it on the racks in case of a Santa Barbara, California tremor.
Watch the video for details on how the straps work!
We were so excited to work with discerning clients such as this San Francisco project and Design Custom Wine Cellars. It was a pleasure to work on and see through from conception to completion.
IWA (International Wine Accessories) designed the customized wine room for Steve and Shannan in Tiburon, California, to maximize bottle capacity and create a perfect environment. Designed to match the rest of their high-end custom home, budget – while always important – was a less of a factor than raw wine storage capacity, design and aesthetics.
Steve and Shannan had always preferred drinking white wine, and didn’t really need to cellar their wine for long periods. Over time their collection of bottles grew, and as they started to collect bottles of red wine, Steve and Shannan realized that they needed to take better care of their wine. They purchased a Euro 2400 wine storage cabinet from Le Cache with a Breezaire 1060 cooling unitin 2006, which is designed to maintain ideal storage conditions for up to 286 bottles of wine.
Fast forward to 2011 when Steve and Shannan purchased a new house close to San Francisco, in Tiburon, California. It was a full project as they tore it down to its studs, rebuilding the house from the ground up. The project included a 300 cu ft room intended as the future wine cellar. Their long-term intention was to eventually replace their existing Le Cache wine cabinet with a real climate controlled wine cellar. Shannan had big plans for their old wine cabinet as it was still a beautiful and valued possession, intending to give it to her parents as a surprise present once the new wine room was completed.
Steve wanted an amazing looking cellar and also wanted maximum bottle capacity in the cellar. The cellar needed to match the motif of the other rooms on that floor, including Steve’s den, a bar area and a guest room. Even though he couldn’t immediately fill a dedicated wine room with 2000 bottles, Steve believed that a custom wine cellar would increase the resale value of the home in case they ever needed to sell.
Shannan particularly wanted to make sure that the customized wine cellar would show well to friends and visitors since it was the first room you’d see at the bottom of the stairs.
Our job became clear – design a custom wine cellar that maximized capacity, matched the décor in the rest of the home, and created a “wow” factor for visitors, friends and guests.
Custom Wine Racks San Francisco Design & Layout Options
We worked first with Steve to nail down the layout of the custom wine racks.
We placed a beautiful tabletop archway with dramatic display racking above the arch, opposite the door.
We designed double-deep solid-wood diamond racks below the tabletop in order to enlarge the countertop space and maximize bottle capacity.
We took advantage of the dead corners of the cellar and created half-hidden bin storage spaces.
The racks extended from floor to ceiling to increase bottle capacity, and we designed a rolling ladder for access to bottles near the ceiling.
Rectangular bins on the side walls were designed for easy access to wood and carton cases.
Our design used double display rows with LED accent lighting for maximum drama and impact.
Crown and base moldings, beveled ends and eased edges provided high-end finishing touches of the overall wine room design.
We worked with Shannan and her interior designer, we chose finishes for the custom wine cellar design that would match the décor in the other rooms on that floor:
The wine racks were made from Mahogany and had a dark walnut stain.
The arched wine cellar door was designed to match the arch on the rear wall of the wine cellar.
Tinted double-pane glass in the door provides thermal and UV protection inside the wine cellar.
The ladder and cellar floors were stained to match the wine racks.
Wine Cellar Refrigeration San Francisco California Design
For wine cellar refrigeration, we designed a CellarPro 3200VS cooling system that was located in an adjacent room. By locating the cooling unit remotely, we removed the noise from the compressor in the wine cellar, and created space for additional wine racking. By using a remote control display we moved the controls and digital readout of the cooling unit to the entrance of the wine cellar where Steve and Shannan can monitor, at a glance, the conditions inside the cellar.
Start Your Own Wine Cellar Design and Construction Project
IWA has a national presence for wine cellar design and construction utilizing a network of wine cellar builders. Whether you are located in the San Francisco bay area in California or on the east coast, IWA can provide a first class concept to completion service.
Call +1 (800) 527-4072 or complete a simple wine cellar design request form and start your own unique wine room project today!
You’ll generally find two types of compressor-based cooling systems used in wine cabinets and cellars. The two types of cooling systems are discussed below.
Forced-air cooling systems are self-enclosed units that typically are mounted at the top of the wine cellar. These units use powerful fans to blow air across cold surfaces, called evaporator coils, and into the wine cellar. One advantage of forced-air cooling units is that they are easy to remove, repair and/or replace because they are entirely self-enclosed inside the wine cellar. Another advantage of forced-air cooling systems is that they provide more even temperatures and less stratification inside the wine cellar. However, forced-air systems are louder than cold-wall cooling systems when the fans are “on”, because the fans play a major role in creating and maintaining even temperatures throughout the cellar.
Cold-wall cooling systems typically are fully-integrated into the construction of the wine cabinets, with compressors located at the bottom of the cabinet, and evaporator coils that run up and down the back of the cabinet. Instead of relying on fans to distribute cold air, cold-wall systems radiate their BTUs into the wine cellar, resulting in the quieter operation than forced-air cooling systems. However, cold-wall systems sometimes have difficulty maintaining even temperatures throughout the wine cellar, and sometimes strip too much moisture and humidity from the wine cellar environment. Another disadvantage of cold-wall systems is that, because they are integrated into the walls of the wine cellar, they cannot be swapped easily and therefore are expensive to repair.
All Le Cache wine cabinets feature ultra-quiet, vibration-free forced-air cooling systems from CellarPro Cooling Systems, one of the industry leaders in wine cellar refrigeration equipment. Each wine cabinet comes with a 5-year warranty on parts and labor for the cooling unit, which is the longest warranty in the industry.
CellarPro offers a choice of cooling units with every wine cabinet, and CellarPro’s 1800QTL wine cooling units are among the quietest forced-air cooling systems in the industry. If that’s still too loud, we offer a sound hood that will knock down the sounds by another 2-3 decibels.
To learn more about our sound hood and the sound levels of our different cooling units, click on one of the links below, or vist us at www.LeCacheWineCabinets.com.
CellarPro is excited to announce the introduction of our all-new Air Handler cooling systems:
Air Handler AH6500 for wine cellars up to 1750 cubic feet – starting at $3,895
Air Handler AH8500 for wine cellars up to 2500 cubic feet – starting at $4,495
Both cooling systems can be ducted up to 100′ (50′ per duct) and are designed to handle extreme temperatures ranging from 110°F to -20°F.
CellarPro Air Handlers are offered in a choice of configurations – vertical, horizontal, split/indoor and split/outdoor – providing maximum versatility to accommodate any application. The vertical and horizontal configurations are fully-charged and ready to use out of the box.
All CellarPro Air Handler evaporators AND condensers use variable-speed centrifugal fans with multiple settings, including a “high” setting for maximum performance and a “low” setting for super-quiet operation.
CellarPro Air Handlers use two 110V / 60Hz plug-in power cords that are compatible with one 15-amp circuit breaker and one 20-amp circuit breaker.
An optional integrated humidification system is available for use in dry climates, and optional integrated heaters are available for use in unheated cellars.
Features
Fully-Ductable up to 100 Equivalent Feet (50 Feet per Duct)
Can be Configured to Operate in Extreme Conditions from -20°F to 110°F
Self-Contained and Split Systems
Choice of Vertical and Horizontal Configurations
Variable Speed Centrifugal Fans Offer a Choice Between High-Output and Super-Quiet Operation
Electronic Thermostat, Digital LED Display and Audible/Visual Alarms
If you live in a place like Vail or Park City, you already know that HVAC/R equipment has special requirements because of the altitude.
The same goes for wine cellar refrigeration equipment. That’s why we asked our engineer to create a table that lists the correction factors for our cooling units at diffierent altitudes, listed below.
To use the table, multiply the BTUH correction factor times the CellarPro cooling unit BTUH to get the adjusted BTUH capacity. Then, compare the adjusted BTUH vs the thermal load of your cellar. If the cooling unit’s adjusted BTUH is greater than the peak thermal load, you should be all set!
Summary
The performance of mechanical cooling systems will be negatively impacted as altitudes increase because of reduced airflow. In the table below, we provide correction factors for airflow and BTUH at various altitudes – these correction factors should be applied when sizing our cooling systems. Please contact us for more information.
Altitude Correction Table (1)
Altitude (Feet)
Airflow Correction Factor
BTUH Correction Factor
1,000
0.98
1.00
2,000
0.95
0.99
3,000
0.93
0.98
4,000
0.91
0.97
5,000
0.89
0.96
6,000
0.87
0.95
7,000
0.85
0.94
8,000
0.81
0.93
(1) As altitudes increase, fans will produce reduced airflow, causing the cooling unit to be less efficient on both ends of the cooling system. On the cold side, the SST (saturated suction temperature) will be lower than optimal, and on the hot side, the SCT (saturated condensing temperature) will be higher than optimal – in both cases, the cooling unit’s performance will be diminished according to the correction factors listed above..
In a few weeks, we will begin selling new BILD 1800 wine cabinets. For customers that are handy and/or on a budget, though these wine cabinets require assembly, they will include a choice of CellarPro 1800 refrigeration sytems, metal racking for oversized bottles, double-pane tinted glass and a choice of melamine finishes. Best of all, these wine cabinets will retail below $2000. For more information and images, please visit http://www.sonomawineaccessories.com/wine-cabinets/bild-wine-cabinets_2/
If you’re in the market for wine cellar refrigeration equipment or wine racks, now may be the best time to purchase these items, before price increases take effect in coming weeks.
CellarPro Cooling Systems will be increasing the prices of some of its units cooling from $49 to $99. This price increase will become effective December 1, 2011. Concurrently, CellarPro will make all of its wine cooling units “bottle probe ready”, which upgrade will lessen the sting of the impending price increase.
Wine Cellar Innovations will be increasing prices 10% across the board on all of its wine racks, wine cellar doors, wine cellar artwork, flooring etc. effective January 1, 2012.
To get the best pricing before these increases take effect, call us toll-free at 877.888.9137 or contact us and we’ll get back to you within 1 business day.
Wine cellars are designed to maintain proper wine storage conditions (ie 55-60 degrees & 60-70% humidity), whereas wine coolers are designed to maintain proper wine serving temperatures (ie 55-58 degrees for red wines and 45-48 degrees for white wines). So, what about putting a wine cooler INSIDE a wine cellar – it’s the best of all worlds, right?
The answer is: maybe. Since the wine cooler would be located entirely inside the wine cellar, all of the heat load generated by the wine cooler would go into the wine cellar, and therefore it would need to be included in the box load of the wine cellar. For a 50-bottle wine refrigerator, the total additional cellar load would be approximately 1000 BTUH, which is not insignificant.
So will it work? Yes, of course - just make sure that the wine cellar refrigeration system is sized appropriately, and the thermal load is calculated to include the additional heat generated by the wine cooler.
CellarPro cooling units are designed to maintain optimal temperature AND humidity conditions for proper wine storage and aging. This means that our cooling units are designed to maximize the sensible load and ignore the latent load inside wine cellars.
What does this mean? The sensible load is the amount of BTUs per hour (BTUH) required to change air temperature. The latent load is the amount of BTUH required to condense moisture from vapor in the air. Our units focus on sensible, rather than latent, loads because we want to condense as little moisture as possible and leave the moisture inside the cellar.
Now here’s the most interesting part: every cooling system has the ability to produce “x” amount of BTUH, equal to the sensible plus latent output. In other words, if the cooling system is generating condensation, this means that some of the cooling unit’s BTUH is being used for the latent load, and therefore the BTUH available for the sensible load is reduced.
The importance of this concept cannot be understated. One of the key takeaways is that cooling units lose some of their cooling ability when they are generating condensation, because some of the BTU is being diverted from the sensible to the latent load. This means that, in addition to insulation, vapor barriers are critically important in determining a cooling unit capacity. To achive maximum cooling performance from your cooling system, you must have an airtight seal in the wine cellar.
If you have any questions about this topic, please give us a call at 877.888.9137, or email us at info@cellarpro.com for more information.
The Wine Specatator’s August 31, 2011 issue has a great article about how to buy wine at auction, including nine strategies to help newbies participate with success.
Here’s a (self serving!) excerpt from the article:
“Auction houses offer catalogs of their upcoming sales. Read the catalog’s condition reports carefully. Wines kept in professional or home temperature-and-humidity-controlled storage are preferable to collections housed in natural or ‘passive’ cellars, because the latter are often subject to temperature fluctuations, whihc can affect wines adversely.”
Only Le Cache wine cabinets feature CellarPro cooling units with adjustable humidity control. For more information, visit www.lecachewinecabinets.com and www.cellarprocoolingsystems.com. At www.sonomawineaccessories.com, we carry the complete lines of products from Le Cache and CellarPro, as well as other high-end products from well-known manufacturers of wine cellar racks, wine storage products and wine accessories.
We recently created product demos for Le Cache Contemporary and European Country wine cabinets, and CellarPro 1800 and VS Series wine cooling units. The Le Cache demos are narrated and animated to highlight product features, galleries, comparisons, options/upgrades and specifications. The CellarPro demos also include narrated installation instructions for wine cellar installations.
To view these demos, start at the product page for the item you wish to view, and click on the “View Demo” button, or click on a link below:
Customers frequently ask if it’s Ok to build a wine cellar in a basement with concrete walls. The answer is: as long as the concrete is sealed and the concrete walls are below grade, you can use uninsulated concrete walls in your cellar. But, pay attention to the thermal load in the cellar, which will rise significantly in warmer climates.
Te following table summarizes thermalsload under various conditions and configurations of below-grade wine cellars:
We get tons of calls from customers, contractors and HVAC/R technicians asking what to do about the condensate drain line - where to put it, whether to use a self-contained evaporator or a pump, or if they should build a drain specifically for the drain line.
The reason for the calls is that they have experienced massive amounts of moisture and condensation generated by our competitors’ refrigeration equipment, and they want to make be prepared. Smart!
What they don’t know is the following: assuming the cellar is AIRTIGHT with a MOISTURE (AKA VAPOR) BARRIER, our cooling systems will generate very little excess condensation (with 2 caveats* – see below). The reason why our systems are different is as follows: when we designed our wine cellar refrigeration systems, we sized the evaporator coils and the compressors so that cooling system can do its job WITHOUT running the evaporator below the dew point. In contrast, other manufacturers’ coils are much smaller, which means that the coils must be colder to achieve the same BTUH.
In other words, you probably won’t see a lot of excess condensate (ie water) coming out of the drain line from a CellarPro refrigeration system. The benefits of our systems are tangible:
Because the water remains in the cellar, the humidity remains much higher inside the cellar.
Because the amount of moisture will be minimal on an ongoing basis*, you probably can get away with draining into a bottle for the initial pulldown; thereafter, leave the drain line in the bottle, but you probably won’t see much moisture from that point forward.
At CellarPro, our systems really are different!
*Caveats: 1. During the initial pulldown, the cooling unit may generate a lot of excess condensate. This situation will resolve itself once pulldown is achieved. 2. The more frequently the cellar door is opened, the higher the risk of excess condensation (because moisture from the ambient environment will enter the room each time the door is opened.
These extended warranties enhance the coverage and extend the terms of the standard warranties associated with our wine storage equipment. The extended warranties differ by product, as summarized below. For complete terms and conditions, please click on the link beside each warranty.
Le Cache Wine Cabinets:
$199 Retail + $49 Deductible per incident
Key Features: Increases the warranty from 2 to 5 years on the cabinet; covers all parts and labor; includes in-home service; covers round-trip shipping for replacement cooling units
Exclusions: Leveling / door alignment, cleaning the coils, replacing the light bulb, improper installations, commercial customers, non-transferable
Key Features: Supplements the standard 5-year warranty; covers all parts and labor; includes in-home service; covers round-trip shipping for replacement cooling units
Key Features: Increases the warranty from 2 to 5 years on the entire system; covers all parts and labor; includes in-home service; covers round-trip shipping for replacement cooling units
There are two types of split refrigeration systems used in wine cellars: conventional split systems and A/C split systems. Whereas conventional split systems are designed to maintain proper temperature and humidity conditions, A/C split systems inherently cannot maintain ideal humidity levels inside wine cellars.
Conventional split refrigeration systems, like those made by CellarPro Cooling Systems, are specifically designed for wine storage applications. Conventional split systems use condensing units with single-speed compressors and thermostatic expansion valves that are located in the evaporators, and are designed specifically for use in wine cellars and wine storage applications.
In contrast, home air conditioning systems that are modified for use in wine cellars are called A/C split systems. Unlike conventional split systems, A/C split systems use variable-speed compressors and electronic expansion valves that are located in the condensing units.
A/C Split System Overview:
A/C split systems consist of an outdoor air-cooled condensing unit matched with a single or multiple fan/coil evaporator units.
These units use “Electronic” control (ie there is no liquid solenoid valve).
These systems are pre-charged with refrigerant R-410A. Additional refrigerant is added depending on the length of the line-sets.
The system is inverter controlled, automatically speeding up or slowing down the compressor and condenser fan to match the system capacity within a given capacity range.
The evaporator fan is 3-speed, with automatic speed control and forward-curved centrifugal blowers.
Because the expansion device is located in the condensing unit, the liquid line is actually a two-phase flow line, and must be insulated. These application rules are more complex and line run lengths are more limited compared to a conventional system.
A/C split systems are sub-optimal for long term wine storage applications, and should be avoided in favor of conventional split systems for the following reasons:
A/C equipment is designed for both comfort cooling, (“latent cooling”), which removes moisture from the air, and “sensible cooling”, which reduces the temperature. In contrast, conventional split systems focus exclusively on sensible cooling, thus reducing temperature while removing as little moisture as possible. As a result, conventional splits are better equipped to maintain the ideal humidity conditions in side wine cellars.
The catalog design limit for most A/C equipment is 67°F DB, which is significantly higher than the optimal wine storage conditions of 55°F DB. In most cases, A/C controllers cannot be set below 60°F, and therefore must be rewired and retrofitted to achieve desired wine storage temperatures. Under these circumstances, the manufacturer’s warranty may become void, forcing the customer to rely exclusivly on the HVAC installer for any/all recourse.
After A/C split systems are retrofitted, the coil temperatures necessarily will operate below the manufacturer’s recommended minimum temperatures, and therefore will reduce coil temperatures below the cellar dew point. This is likely to result in frosted conditions, thereby extracting moisture from the room and reducing the cellar’s humidity below ideal levels.
A/C split system compressor ratings are quoted for air conditioning applications, making it difficult to calculate the correct BTUH for wine storage applications. Therefore, contractors must engage in trial and error when sizing A/C split systems for wine cellars, as opposed to using proper engineering models and scientific data.
Due to the complexities of the controller and the two-phase piping system, A/C split systems require a higher level of expertise and training than conventional split systems, thereby increasing installation and maintenance costs.
Before purchasing a split refrigeration system for your wine cellar, it is advisable to ask your contractor what kind of refrigeration equipment he intends to use. If you don’t understand his answer, feel free to give us a call and we’ll be glad to help. Our toll-free number is 877.726.8496.
CellarPro Cooling Systems recently launched its Mini Split 3000S wine cellar refrigeration system, priced at $2499, for use in wine cellars up to 600 cubic feet. WhisperKool also sells a Platinum Mini Split, priced at $2495, which is advertised for use in wine cellars up to 500 cubic feet.
We believe WhisperKool’s coils and compressors are undersized, which forces their condensing units to work extra hard and can result in premature failure. Take a look at the following table:
Manufacturer
CellarPro
WhisperKool
Model
Mini Split 3000S
Mini Split
Difference
Coil Height (inches)
10
7
+43%
Coil Depth (inches)
2.625
1.875
+40%
Coil Length (inches)
11
9
+22%
Coil Fins / Inch
12
14
-14%
Coil Tube OD (inches)
3/8
3/8
–
Coil Airflow (CFM)
268
94
185%
Compressor Rating @ 45°F SST/130°F SCT (BTUH)
3756
2171
73%
Condensing Unit Rating @ 45°F SST / 95°F Ambient (BTUH)
3170
1930
64%
Calculated Cooling Capacity @ 55°F (BTUH)
2491
1465
70%
Which wine cellar refrigeration system would you choose? Let us know what you think!
