Planning Your Wine Cellar

 First, determine how much wine you use. This includes daily glasses of wine with dinner, bottles served at weekend dinner parties, when friends drop by, at birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions, during holidays weekends, and those you give away as housewarming presents. And don’t forget your thirsty brother-in-law. Let’s say
Total consumption works out to about three bottles per week, on average. Divide the total up into your preference categories – red and white (plus rose and dessert wines, as well)
Multiply your weekly consumption by 52, in this case, 156 bottles
Add 15% to 20% for unexpected wine emergencies (there will be some). In this case, that’s another 25 or 30 bottles. We’ll round out the total to 180 bottles. That works out to six 23 litre batches per year. Now comes the “ouchy” part.
Now make twice your yearly total in as short a period as possible – ideally within a month or two. That means 12 batches, all in one fell swoop. Squirrel away half the wine in your cellar and forget about it. Drink your young wine, as usual.
At the end of one year, start opening those fully aged bottles and enjoy the tremendous improvement that good cellaring can bring. On the anniversary date of your big batch, make another six batches, all at once, and put them to the back of the cellar. In a year, you’ll nearly dislocate your shoulder patting yourself on the back.