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The Big Chill
by Sean O’Neill As you probably know, Gewürztraminer (pronounced geh-VURTS-tra-meaner) is a delicate white wine best drunk young. So when Elliott Mackey discovered a bottle he had made that should have been years past its prime, he uncorked it hoping for the best but fearing the worst. If anything could preserve a wine, however, it's the cellar beneath Mackey's San Francisco house, where the Gewürztraminer had been stored. He says the cellar has the optimum conditions year-round: a constant cool temperature, low relative humidity and no vibration. Sure enough, the Gewürztraminer hadn't turned to Weinessig (vinegar), but had developed some nice floral and spice notes.
Mackey makes his living importing wine accessories, and he has published more than 50 books on winemaking and wine connoisseurship. And if you aren't blessed with a cellar like his, he recommends that you buy a wine-cellar appliance for proper storage -- but only one that comes close to creating ideal, cavelike conditions.
Bad vibrations
Free-standing wine cellars justify their cost -- a basic model that holds 50 bottles starts at $500 -- not only because they let you stock up on wine at today's low prices but also because they allow the wine to age as its taste and value increase over the years. For example, a bottle of Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill Cabernet Sauvignon bought for $75 five years ago is worth $175 today.
Mackey says that as far as keeping wine cool goes, any brand-name cellar will probably earn its license to chill. The trick is to avoid temperature extremes and swings, which can cause wine to oxidize at the wrong pace and ruin it. Cellars prevent this by providing a constant temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Most models will likely do a superior job compared with an ordinary refrigerator, closet or cellar -- provided the cellar under your house isn't in a climate ideal for storing wines, such as Mackey's cellar in the Bay Area.
And most cellars keep the relative humidity, another important factor, at 65%, the level best suited for wine, Mackey says. By contrast, refrigerators can reduce humidity too much, which dries out the cork and allows too much air to enter.
But what separates a world-class cellar from a mediocre one is how well it dampens the rattle and hum of the motor that chills it. "Vibration is the mortal enemy of fine wine," says Mackey. (Although the process behind such destruction is poorly understood, it is well documented.) He cites an Australian winery that stored some of its inventory in a mine shaft with ventilation ducts that exposed the wine to constant wind tremors. After six months, the wine was undrinkable.
The best cellar appliance is one that renders the vibration issue moot, Mackey says. At the Wine Hardware store, in Walnut Creek, Cal., he points to a cellar with nary a quiver: the Dometic Silent Cellar. Like most storage units, an endless cycle of evaporating and condensing liquids keeps it cold. But unlike other units, the Silent Cellar uses a quiet heating element -- and not a noisy compressor -- to start and sustain this cooling cycle.
Nor does the Silent Cellar use a fan, which generates vibration, to circulate cold air. Instead, it chills the interior back wall of the cellar. Cold air drifts from the wall through the unit, maintaining an even temperature. "Without question, the Dometic Silent Cellars are the best for keeping wine for ten to 20 years," says Mackey. These cellars are also easy on the ears. By forgoing moving parts, Silent Cellars live up to their name and are noise-free.
Mackey likes the "sturdy and convenient" shelving options on the Silent Cellar CS 160. The standard configuration is one sliding shelf and two fixed ones. But you can add more roll-out shelves, to present your wines to guests, or additional fixed shelves, which adjust up and down, to hold more bottles. Your choice will hinge on whether you care more about wine presentation or efficient storage (storage capacity ranges between 104 and 170 bottles). The standard CS 160 model with a glass door lists for $2,295, but retailers often sell it for $1,995 (find a list of dealers at www.silentcellar.com).
Showpiece cellars
As utilitarian as a cellar may be, as many as half are also bought to be showpieces, Mackey says. For furniture-grade cellars, Mackey picks Vinothèque custom-built credenzas and uprights, which can be made to blend in with your room's décor. Vinothèque sells two types of cooling systems, the QT and the WhisperKool; both use a compressor, which causes occasional shaking. But Mackey says the QT system keeps vibration to an acceptable minimum because of how it circulates air. Like the Silent Cellar, it chills the back wall of the unit instead of forcing air through the unit with a fan. Prices start at $4,014 for the QT 150, which has a varnished oak exterior and mahogany shelves that hold about 130 bottles. Prices climb past $8,000 for units in more expensive woods that can store up to 700 bottles and offer display features such as angled shelves.
You may prefer a small wine cabinet that will fit under your kitchen counter or beside your bar. Among these, Mackey picks the EuroCave Compact Petite. Unlike cheaper rivals, it uses a quiet, vibration-free cooling system. Mackey considers EuroCave's shelves to be comparable to Dometic's and Vinothèque's -- an important feature given that the shelves of some less expensive units may collapse under the weight of dozens of bottles. And like the high-end units, the doors of the EuroCave seal tightly, insuring that the correct humidity level is maintained. Mackey has seen the doors on other brands sag, breaking their seal.
EuroCave cabinets are distributed exclusively by the Wine Enthusiast, an online and mail-order merchant (the 50-bottle model costs $995, plus $275 for shipping; www.wineenthusiast.com).
Mackey is unimpressed with multitemperature units that are designed to keep whites cooler than reds. The concept behind these appliances is to have your vin rouge and vin blanc ready for quaffing at the drop of a cork. But Mackey says that whites and reds can be stored at the same temperature, even though they're served at different ones. "Unless you're running neighborhood wine tastings out of your kitchen," says Mackey, "all you need is an ice bucket or a refrigerator to get your wines ready for serving."
--Research: Jessica Anderson
Our expert, Elliott Mackey, is publisher at the Wine Appreciation Guild. He enjoys a warm, sunny day in his vineyard near Sonoma, Cal., but urges would-be wine collectors to keep their bottles cool in a wine cellar like the Dometic Silent Cellar.
Dometic Silent Cellar CS 160
This cabinet-like cellar keeps your wine chilled without noisy motors, compressors or fans, all of which can cause harmful vibrations. Its state-of-the-art cooling system makes it superior to other storage units, says Mackey. It comes with your choice of sliding or fixed shelves, and a glass or solid door. List price, $2,295; retail, $1,995.
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