OKANAGAN WINE CELLARS
Is Your Wine Collection Collecting Dust?
The finer things are meant to be displayed. You hang your art collection on the wall, showcase your books on a shelf, and place your china in a cabinet. Why not give your wine the same treatment?
Whether you’re looking for an expertly-installed temperature-controlled place to store your wine, or a stunning custom wine cabinet or shelf to display your favourite bottles (or a combination of both!), we’ve got you covered—your dream is our specialty.
We Understand Your Taste
Custom wine cellar builds mean you get something truly unique that perfectly pairs with your home, preferences, and needs. We’ll collaborate closely with you as we create your ideal space to store, display, and share your favourite wines.
We can consult with you as you build a new home, making sure every detail is given the care and attention it needs as construction progresses. We can also help you renovate an existing space in your home into a top-quality wine cellar or storage space.
We Partner With The Best
We partner with some of the top suppliers of wine racks, wine cabinets, and cooling systems in North America to ensure you have the best options available to you when planning your build.
Learn more about the wine racks, wine cabinets, and cooling systems you’ll have to choose from when you work with us.
Featured Wine Cellar
The custom wine cellar in this luxury accommodation located next to a winery in West Kelowna needed ample space to display both the Estate’s wine and the owner’s international wine collection. In addition, the home is used for entertaining clients and guests, so the cellar needed to be both functional and impressively aesthetically pleasing.
Custom Wine Cellar FAQ
Yes, a custom wine cellar does increase the value of a home. However, it’s important to keep in mind the type of home you’re building in, the region you live in and what kind of people would likely be interested in buying the home. Here in the Okanagan, the popularity of home wine cellars is quickly growing, keeping up with the growing recognition of British Columbia wines.
The cost of a custom wine cellar entirely depends on your needs. The capacity of the wine cellar, the size and material of the doors, the type of racking you choose, and the size and type of cooling unit required all effect the price point of the cellar. Our climate-controlled wine cellars typically start at around $20,000 for supply and installation.
The best flooring to install in a wine cellar depends on whether or not you have under-floor heating. If you have under-floor heating, you’ll need to ensure that there is a thermal break far enough from the cellar doors, so that heat does not travel through the concrete. Insulating your flooring is also key in order to maintain a healthy cellar environment.
You can build a wine cellar almost anywhere! However, keep in mind that some locations are better than others. Stairs are convenient for homes where space is hard to come by, but for collectors with high-value wines, this option may not be ideal due to the level of vibration caused by walking up and down the stairs.
Ideally, a wine cellar should be built in a space with a relatively stable temperature. Garages are often excessively warm during summer days and freezing cold at night or winters. These types of spaces require a very large cooling unit. This unit will be running for much of the day resulting in a shorter lifespan and larger operating costs. For these reasons, we do not recommend building a cellar in a typical garage.
Wine cellars don’t change your wine, but they do improve the aging process, reducing the risk of corked or faulty wines. Fluctuating temperatures or warm temperatures will prematurely age wines. An environment that is too dry will cause the cork to dry out, allowing more oxygen into the bottle, resulting in oxidation and rapid aging. So, a wine cellar won’t turn your $12 bottle of red into a Grand Cru Bordeaux, but it will reduce the number of spoiled wines over time.
While a cooling system is recommended, a wine cellar or display without one can work for individuals who tend to keep bottles no longer than a year or two—so long as the space has a relatively consistent temperature.
Working Hands is based out of Kelowna in the Central Okanagan, but can install wine cellars throughout the Interior region of British Columbia.