Tips to Light Your Wine Cellar the Right Way

23 Sep Tips to Light Your Wine Cellar the Right Way

There was a time when lighting a wine cellar was something that was very much frowned upon. Anyone that knows wine is aware that the wrong kind of lighting will only damage fine wines, as it can increase the temperature of the wines. This increase in temperature degrades the organic compounds in the wine and impacts its quality.

However that doesn’t mean you have to forgo having some kind of lighting in your wine cellar. With the current day cool LED and fluorescent lighting, you can have a well-illuminated space to display and admire your wine collection. When you are planning the design and construction of your wine cellar, you want to ensure there’s a sufficient amount of lighting to allow you to read the labels; however, you need to ensure that the light isn’t harsh enough to damage the wines.

Some basic lighting techniques

Lighting can be very decorative and practical and it should be sufficient to read the labels; but it should be positioned in the right manner; as little light as possible should reach the bottles when they are housed in the racks. Take a look at some of the lighting options and tips to light your cellar the right way:

• Use LED lighting to light up any archways, rafters or beam elements.
• LED lights are ideal as backlighting in any crown moulding you may have, and will also light up the display racking.
• If you have any stained glass features or light boxes in the cellar, you can use fluorescent lighting for it.
• The areas that require task lighting can be adorned with LED profile lights.
• Adding a certain amount of accent lighting from under shelving or pelmets is an excellent way to add drama to the space.

If you are also going to be using your wine cellar as a wine tasting room and going to entertaining guests there, ensure that you don’t use excessive lighting, as that will only end up creating too much of heat. It’s a good idea to work closely with your wine cellar designer to tell them what your specific requirements are. They will then ascertain whether the ideas will work and be functional without impacting the quality of the wines.

Some pointers to keep in mind

It’s important to understand that a wine cellar is far more than just a space where you store and stack wine bottles. It’s about convenience, quick accessibility, hospitality and creating drama. The kind of lighting you opt for will play a significant role in creating a stunning, elegant and sophisticated ambience in your wine cellar. We would like to stress on certain pointers:

• Use low-heat light sources like LED bulbs as they throw “cool” light.
• Use LED down-lighting to light up any floor-to-ceiling shelves you have in the cellar.
• Use wall-washing trims along the ceiling and position LED lights in such a manner that they highlight the angles of the rack spaces.
• Use dimmer switches to effectively control the level of lighting in the room, based on the occasion and number of people using the space.
• Use accent lighting to highlight the architecture, bottles and shelves in the room. These will add one more layer of light, which contributes to the visual appeal of the space. The different types of lights you can use are tape lights, light strips as well as rope lights. These can be artistically run along and under shelves and can add a very uniform look.
• Recessed up-lights are a great way to accent the racks from below.
• You can also install puck light for spotlighting your large format bottles.
• Depending on the scale of the space and height of the wine cellar, you can hang pendant lights or chandeliers in the room.

For any consultation on design and install of wine cellars and information about cellaring wine, call us at 02 9340 7515. Alternatively, simply use this contact form to connect with us and we will get back to you shortly.

Thanks for reading,
Neil Smallman
Signature Cellars
1300 570 636