Room for Wine
By Elizabeth Dougherty
“No man also having drunk old
wine straightaway desireth new: for he
saith, ‘The old is better’.” Luke 5:39
Even in ancient times, apparently,
folks knew really good wine from the
less desirable stuff. In today’s world,
most people think cellaring wine is
beyond their reach. I have to admit, the
prospect of building a wine cellar does
seem daunting. Luckily, there are experts
right here in Lee County to take some of
the guesswork out of it.
My first stop was Kroger Supermarket,
where I talked to Andrew Clark
a.k.a. “Gus, the Wine Guy.” Having
helped homeowners set up their own
wine cellars in the past, he is a wealth
of information. The fi rst, and most
important piece of advice, he says, is to
make sure the “cellar” is located in a
room or closet (if you don’t have a basement)
away from windows and unwanted
temperature fl uctuations. “It’s best
to use an interior closet, if you can,”
he said. Asked about artifi cial cooling
methods, he recommends equipment
from International Wine Accessories, Inc.
Their website is www.iwawine.com. On
the website, there are lots of choices for
racks, as well. Gus says to make sure the
wine is well supported, cannot be jostled
and the bottles are stored sideways.
Once you have your cellar ready, what
should you fill it with? “It’s important
to develop what’s called a palate profi le
of wines,” advises Gus. An expert can
help you fi nd a range of wines that suit
your tastes. “And make sure you insure
them,” he cautions.
In adding up the cost for a small
closet-size cooling unit, basic pine racking
and foil/foam insulation (available
at Home Depot or Lowe’s), it comes to
about $1,000.00. Not bad for a place to
store and showcase an impressive wine
collection. Suddenly, you might fi nd a lot
of your friends inviting themselves over
every weekend.
Still, the question about home value
is lingering in my mind. I’ve worn two
hats in life; my old career encompassed
all things relating to real estate, mortgages
and the closing process. However,
for the past six years or so (since culinary
school) I’ve spent more time tasting
wine (and food) and writing about it
than valuing homes. So I decided to
contact some appraisers to give me the
skinny on how much a home wine cellar
adds to residential real estate value.
What I have learned is there are
two basic ways of valuing a home cellar.
Some appraisers rely mostly on what’s
called the “cost approach” to value. That
is, how much would it cost me to build
the cellar in today’s dollars? A handbook
such as the Residential Cost Handbook
from Marshall & Swift is generally used.
The other approach is the Market Value
approach that relies on comparable
sales of homes with similar amenities.
In this case, both approaches suggest a
boost in value to an average price range
residential home of around $1000.00
for the addition of a wine cellar that is
about the size of a coat closet. Keep in
mind that if you use your coat closet
for a wine cellar, there might be a small
reduction in value for not having a
coat closet if most homes in your price
range have one. This is called functional
obsolescence.
Whew! It’s a lot to think about
when all you wanted was a place to
stash some wine, right? Here’s my best
advice to you. If you like wine and want
to build a little cellar as a project, do it.
You’ll usually gain the cost back in the
value of your home. And, although the
price of a wine cellar might be $1000,
the look on your guests faces when you
crack open that 1997 bottle of Silver
Oak Cabernet, for instance,… is priceless.
Elizabeth Dougherty, a resident of Auburn,
is a former Real Estate Broker and
Mortage Broker. She can be reached at
EADougherty1@aol.com
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