An extract of the interview that Humble Grape have conducted with Cellar Maison founder, Andrew Speer:

How to set up a wine cellar?

Humble Grape chats to interior designer Andrew Speer, founder of Cellar Maison, a specialist in bespoke climate controlled wine rooms and wine cellars regarding frequently asked questions for wine collectors and wine lovers.

Firstly, should I have a wine cellar?

A home cellar is not only a great pleasure for the eyes but also a very practical investment. If you enjoy entertaining your family, friends and clients with great food and wine or you want a special dedicated site for your collection then you may want to think about setting up a cellar. If you are seriously into wine collection exclusively for investment purposes, then the bonded storage solution is for you.

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Sample your collection

Let’s say you are storing wine in a bonded warehouse and decide to ”touch” your bottles; the logistics of a case leaving the building and reaching your house are time-consuming and surely complex. Not to mention that single bottles are not allowed to travel, you will never be able to personally choose the wine with your meal you are preparing impromptu!

Yet, what if you want to see your collection instead of having it hidden? To make your investment tangible you need a temperature controlled wine display at home –  you can simply open up one bottle to check the status of your wine and  see if it has matured enough to drink at anytime!

How expensive can it be to set up a wine cellar?

The cheapest solution is to go for bonded storage therefore it may be more convenient to store some of your collection this way.

However, it will be hard to find the wine that has matured at exactly the right time and is ready to drink. Nothing compares to the feeling of having wine displayed for the pleasures of sight and your guests’ entertainment.

Prices vary greatly from design, material and size. The largest and biggest example such as wine rooms can go from £15,000 to £120,000.

What advice would you give someone looking to set up a cellar at home?

Firstly speak to us early and plan in advance. Establish a realistic budget and have a rough idea of what you want.

There are many options and we work with architects and contractors to arrange temperature control and drainage which can also save you money in the long term.

Consider your current collection but also think about the future, especially the next 10 years, whether you will have the desire to collect more wine or not and then perhaps consider a wine jail instead.

At Cellar Maison we focus on the interior design by deeply studying the interior decors and match the cellar with the rest of the property.

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Do you need to have a basement?

Absolutely not! The common myth of the old and dusty French cave de vin is certainly ideal but the truth is that times are changing and today’s lifestyle no longer allows everyone the luxury of a basement or cellar.

Thus you don’t need to have or create a basement but you can recreate exactly the same conditions in any room within your house, flat or penthouse. We provide temperature wine walls which are framed as a glass pod and can accommodate 400 bottles and the interior design is rather minimalist. Another option is to just have glass and stainless steel with LED lighting to display the bottles.

You do not need a large house. Our solutions can be as little as two metres high and wide and half metre deep and under a metre in depth. A lot of our clients live in small inner city apartments…

Remember, the focus is on the wine itself not on the design: the type and the size of the collection will go hand in hand with this.

What are the most popular trends?

I would say wine walls because they take up a lot less floor space – the entire collection can be displayed in the living entertaining area behind framed glass. Frameless solutions are best because they do not detract the view from the wine collection and are therefore very popular within our customers