Wine Storage in Washington, D.C.

[ademello]

Does anyone know of a reputable place in Washington, D.C. where I can store my wine (6-10 cases, maybe more) for a monthly fee? I have one here in Montreal and in San Francisco and they're quite useful if you buy wines away from home. Let me know if anyone has any experience that could be useful to me.

[Mark Sommelier]

Does anyone know of a reputable place in Washington, D.C. where I can store my wine (6-10 cases, maybe more) for a monthly fee? I have one here in Montreal and in San Francisco and they're quite useful if you buy wines away from home. Let me know if anyone has any experience that could be useful to me.

There is a cellar facility in upper Georgetown, I believe. Contact Wide World of Wines at 202-333-7500. I think they have something to do with it. If not, they will recommend something for you.

[DonRocks]

There are two places, both in North Georgetown: "The Wine Rack" (part of Bottom Line Wine) and as Mark says, "Wide World of Wine." Both are expensive and both have good storage, one traditional difference being that The Wine Rack used to only be open on weekends (not sure about now). Availability has been a problem so call soon.

Cheers,

Rocks.

[iamthestretch]

I've got a nice cool, dank stone cellar under my house that you can use for free as long as you tithe me the odd bottle and promise not to park anything so rare that it would require doubling my homeowners insurance.

[brr]

clicked through here from the other thread - I also have a great cellear space underneath my front porch that I'm thinking of moving my wine into

my question is this: I know wines like cooler temps but is there a threshold temperature below which you should not store wine on an extended basis? I'm worried that on those night when its hovering around zero that this uninsulated spot may be too cold

is there such a thing as too cold when it comes to storing wine?

I've got a nice cool, dank stone cellar under my house that you can use for free as long as you tithe me the odd bottle and promise not to park anything so rare that it would require doubling my homeowners insurance. 

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[DTBarton]

clicked through here from the other thread - I also have a great cellear space underneath my front porch that I'm thinking of moving my wine into

my question is this: I know wines like cooler temps but is there a threshold temperature below which you should not store wine on an extended basis? I'm worried that on those night when its hovering around zero that this uninsulated spot may be too cold

is there such a thing as too cold when it comes to storing wine?

The most important things in good storage are trying to avoid rapid flucuations in temperature, temperature extremes, and prolonged low humidity.

I try to keep my cellar at 58 degrees and 70% humidity using a Whisperkool unit in a heavily insulated above ground room under the stairs. This succeeds in keeping the temp/hum at 60/80 on hot summer days and 58/60 during cold dry winter. If you undertake a cellar project like mine, do your homework. Use green board for the walls and ceilings (the moisture resistant drywall used in bathrooms), use exterior grade particle board for the floor, and pack in as much insulation as you can. Also, you need a tight vapor barrier over the insulation on the hot side (away from the cellar) to prevent condensation. Not doing this adequately led me to have to replace my cellar floor recently after 5 1/2 years, an expensive and labor intensive project.

I would consider "extreme" temps to be 50 or below and 75 or above. Fluctuation is bad, but slow, steady seasonal fluctuation is much better than daily fluctuation.

If you're going to use that under the porch space, I'd consider doing some insulating to damp out fluctuations and hold in humidity. Also, obviously, freezing is verboten!