Choosing your site is the most important decision you will make. In selecting the best site for your home cellar you have to eliminate the negative before you accentuate the positive, to coin a phrase.  When considering a space, keep the following admonitions in mind before you begin to build.

Don’t site your cellar against an exterior wall if you can avoid it.  Unless you have terrific insulation the walls will absorb and transmit heat.  Remember that heat rises, so the lower the location in your house, the better for the wines.

Don’t site your cellar near the washer or dryer or where you use power tools.  The vibrations will prematurely age your wines.

Don’t store wines near windows.  The light will eventually cause them to oxidize and taste pruney (reds) or sherry-like (whites).

Don’t store wines where there is a lot of human traffic, such as in a corridor or along a kitchen wall.  The wines will be constantly vibrating and exposed to light sources.

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Excerpted from Tony Aspler’s Cellar Book Copyright © 2009 by Tony Aspler. Excerpted by permission of Random House Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved.