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Home » Tips for Stocking a Wine Cellar in Your Home

Tips for Stocking a Wine Cellar in Your Home

If you are a wine connoisseur, one of the most exciting things you can acquire when buying a house is a wine cellar. While some seek out their new home sweet home with a cellar in mind, it can also be fun to stumble upon your dream home and discover it boasts a wine cellar. Whatever your reason is, it can be a daunting task to know just how to set up and stock a fantastic wine cellar in your home.

This week, we are thrilled to introduce you to Boston’s own, Nick O’Connell. O’Connell is the master mind behind The Cocktailist, a popular private event and wine tasting business, an on-site private events service based out of Boston. Serving up award-winning wines at their soirees and events, the O’Connell family is perfect to keep in mind as the holidays are fast approaching. We decided to team up with Nick and get some info from an insider about having your own wine cellar.

What can you tell us about your business?

My family has been filling cellars in the suburbs of Boston for 40 years. Under @thecocktailist I host high-end private parties and tasting events.

What would be the best investment for a wine cellar?

Bordeaux is my favorite style of wine and definitely one of the most age worthy stylistically. They are structured but balanced with a wide variety of price points.

Tuscan and Piedmont Italian wines will be in the realm of age worthy as well. A lot of what you’ll see at restaurants are new world wines from Napa, California and although exciting they are more showpieces, and for the price, you will see more longevity out of old world expressions.

With the holidays around the corner, what are some varietals you recommend to have on hand in your cellar?

It’s best to shop with local stores that can guide you through building your cellar rather than relying on the internet or wine superstores where more often than not you will be taken advantage of!

In addition to these great tips from O’Connell, here are some extra tips for storing wine in a wine cellar I thought you might find handy:

Did you know you should always store bottles on their side? Bottles should be stored horizontally to ensure the cork remains moist. Otherwise, you run the risk of corks drying out, if a bottle is left standing upright. While often looked upon as a more affordable wine, screw-capped bottles are more resilient, but it’s best to have these bottles lying down as well so that if a bottle is damaged, you will identify leakage earlier.

Nick adds that when drinking vintage wine it is important to stand the bottle upright for at least 24hrs before consuming to allow sediment to settle down to the bottom after years of being stored lying down.

If you store your wines in racks, it is a good idea to face the labels up, so the whereabouts of the sediment is apparent. This is beneficial when decanting the wine.

While this might be surprising, red wines usually thrive and enjoy longer, more predictable cellaring than white wines. While there are certainly some styles of white wine that can evolve with ease for a decade or more.

As O’Connell recommends, always discuss the best cellaring and wine storing options with a local wine shop. Follow the @thecocktailist on Instagram and find him on occasion at his family’s wine shop, Post Road Liquors in Weston/Wayland, MA

 

See homes that feature wine cellars:


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