Wine Storage Units for Self-Storage Companies

Wine-tasting room

Having a wine-tasting room in your self-storage facility is a marketing decision — one that will make your store stand out, potentially attracting more wine storers.

Some of our customers have added a comfortable wine-tasting room near the wine-storage area in their self-storage stores. These rooms are usually furnished in an appealing way with calming lighting and are ideal for private tastings.

Other customers take the wine-tasting concept in self-storage to the next level and have teamed up with wine merchants or wine-tasting schools who use the wine-tasting room at the self-storage facility as their preferred venue for various wine-tasting events or classes.

Wine-storage security

Today’s wine collections can have a substantial value, so as well as providing a climate-controlled wine-storage environment you must ensure that your wine-storage area has top-of-the-range protection.

Wine-storage security requirements

As well as the excellent self-storage security that’s included in your self-storage building, wine-storage security may include some or all of the following:

Secondary key-card and/or pincode access to visit the wine-storage area.
Door alarms — all the units and lockers in the secure wine-storage area can be fitted with individual door alarms to monitor unit activity and deter intruders. They will be deactivated upon key-card/pincode entry and re-armed upon key-card/pincode exit of the area. Should an intruder manage to gain access to the area and try to force open an armed door, an alarm will sound alerting staff to take immediate action.Your customers will also receive an email alerting them of any unauthorised access to their unit.
Airlock lobbies provide extra security and help keep the wine-storage area at the required temperatures. After key-card/pincode access your customer can enter the airlock lobby. Only when the first doors close will the next set of doors open.
CCTV cameras — one at the key-card/pincode access point and one inside the airlock lobby will record all entry and exit activity of the wine-storage area.
Controlled lighting is not simply a power-saving solution. It helps keep the wine-storage environment dark as required — it only lights the path leading up to the accessed storage unit upon key-card/pincode activation.

In addition to the electronic security enhancements consider using a heavier gage wire mesh or perforated, louvred panels to cover the ceiling of the unit and/or reinforced doors for added security.

Climate-controlled environment

A climate-controlled environment is essential in wine storage. So if you’re considering adding wine storage to your self-storage facility there are four storage conditions you need to take into account:

light
humidity
temperature
security

We discuss the environmental aspects of wine storage below.

Light

Ultraviolet light causes wine to degrade, so providing a low-light wine storage area is essential.

Humidity

Humidity control is a critical component for the storage of wine. If the humidity is very low it can dry out the cork leading to sealing problems, which will spoil the wine. The ideal humidity for wine storage ranges between a 60% and 75% relative humidity level.

Temperature

The ideal temperature for wine storage is said to be 13°C (55°F). This makes sense historically, as wine in France was, and is, typically stored in caves with 13°C being the optimum underground temperature.

Experts say the ideal temperature is between 13°C and 15.5°C (60°F), but what is potentially more important is that the temperature has minimal fluctuation. If the temperature is set at 13°C a perfect storage temperature would only have a fluctuation of plus or minus one degree.

Building wine storage

When building wine storage we take all these environmental requirements into account — from our wine-storage building components to the insulated panel we install all around the wine-storage area and the implementation of the refrigeration system to the back-up generator that maintain the area’s required temperature.

Wine-storage unit configurations

There are four unit configurations to consider for wine storage:

Walk-in wine-storage units — with 3 different configurations
Wine-storage lockers

Walk-in wine-storage units and their configurations

The first configuration is the simplest. It’s the standard empty storage space that your customers can use to store and stack their wine boxes. As the space fills up, moving wine boxes in and out of the unit may become increasingly difficult. This is where our second and third wine-storage configurations can help.
The second and third configurations offer a racking system designed for wine storage in either an L-shape or U-shape configuration, depending on the size of the unit. The racking system allows customers to easily move their wine boxes and bottles in and out of the self-storage unit. You can add a self-storage trolley to optimise the space, whilst allowing customers full access to their wine.

Wine-storage lockers

Our wine-storage lockers conform to our purpose-built self-storage lockers, but use the specific wine-storage building components. Also, the mid-shelf in a wine-storage locker is made of perforated steel.

Wine-storage building components

As with standard self-storage units, the main building components for wine storage units are walls, partitions and doors.

Walls and partitions

The general concept of our modular self-storage partitioning system doesn’t change for building wine-storage units. We use the same high-quality, durable materials as with the Streamline safe-edge panel system but with a slight modification. To ensure the wine maintains its required temperature, the walls and partitions can be perforated to increase the airflow and maintain a constant temperature throughout the wine-storage area.

Floor of wine-storage units

We cover the floor (or part of the floor) of all wine-storage units with a wooden duckboard. Increased air circulation is also the key factor for making duckboards a standard building component of our wine-storage units. The gap between the floor and the wine boxes lets wine from any leaking bottles flow down to the floor and not soak other boxes, which could create a mould and/or mildew problem.

Doors Floor of wine-storage units

We only use flat swing doors in wine storage, so that the doors can include louvre vents which help to control the steady temperature and humidity levels in the units.