Ask The Pro First

Did you read the aritcle in Celebrity Wine Review TV that I wrote on the questions to ask your contractor? Here it is if you missed it:

Now that we have covered a few of the questions that you should ask yourself. Building a wine a wine cellar is not like building a kitchen or a bathroom.It's time to ask some questions of the person that you will hire to build your new wine cellar. So be prepared when your contractor may give you a few funny looks as you ask these questions.

Things to ask the company or person you choose to build a home for your precious wine:

First you need to ask the most important question:

How many climate controlled wine rooms have you built?

If the answer here is..Well I did this room one time that……Not a good answer! You want someone that has had experience with everything involved with a climate controlled room. It is one thing to add on a room or remodel a kitchen, but when it comes to wine cellars, you need someone that really knows.

The second thing you want to ask is:

What are you going to use for materials?

What will you use for the vapor & moisture barriers? How is this installed?  The product used for this is one of the most important keys to building your new wine cellar. If you install it wrong, or someone forgets to install it. You might as well not have a wine cellar

The third question is:

Are you sure you know why the vapor barrier is important, and do you know what could  happen if they are not installed correctly?

Your average contractor may not know the answer. If they don't know the reasons behind the vapor barrier, At this point just say thanks and I will call an expert!

The fourth question you should have is:

This will cover the cooling unit that you are installing.

How much make noise will the cooling unit make, and where does it exhaust hot air? Some of the self contained units are noisy and usually exhaust hot air into the adjacent room. Are you using a split system? If they try to convince it doesn't matter, again just say thank you and call an expert.

Question number five would be:

What would happen in the event my unit goes on the fritz?

If you have to return it to the factory, hopefully you will have a replacement unit quickly. Or can the cooling unit be repaired locally? If not, your wine cellar could heat up rather quickly. Your wine is not going to like this.

The sixth question would be:

Does the cooling unit that you are using have the capacity to increase the humidity without any additional equipment?

This is kind of a trick question. Most cooling units do not increase humidity unless you add a humidifier. They simply take out some humidity. If you find you need more humidity, maybe a simple mister might do.

Question number seven is a good one:

Does the contractors  insurance cover the repairs if mold develops?

This goes hand and hand with question #3. If you develop mold or mildew, it could be because the wine cellar was not built right, the contractor should have insurance to cover this. Now it is not only your wine at risk, developing mold is very serious.

Question number eight:

Where are the racks coming from?

Is the contractor building them or are they coming from a manufacture. Not that you are asking this  to check up on them. The idea behind the question is just to know where your racks are coming from, you don't any want surprises. You want to know that your wine bottles are safely cradled in the racks. You don't find them laying on the floor one day.

Question number nine:

This is about the door they are installing?

If your contractor says "We will match the doors here in the lower level, they are just hollow core doors anyway" Wrong answer…You need an insulated door, with weather stripping all around. You can have glass in the door. As long as it is insulated glass.

The last question is number ten:

Your Wine Bottles

The last question you should ask may sound a little funny. Ask them if they know the weight of  a bottle of wine? Told you it sounds funny. But you are asking them to build racks for your wines, think about it. You are asking them to construct a room which will only house one thing…YOUR WINES!!!!

When you ask these questions of someone that you will trust with your wines. Make sure you get answers that are correct. Not just something made up to sound good. If they got defensive through this questionnaire, again just say thank you and call an expert. It is not necessarily a bad thing if they admit to the lack of knowledge as long as they call in an expert.

Thanks and may all your wines be GREAT!!!!

Next time let's talk about some great racks!!

John Seitz

Master Wine Cellar 

The Magnum Company Inc