LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Wine Cellar: Basements
built 659 days ago
The wine cellar is part of the basement of Casa Grande and consists of two rooms with double vault doors. It has no connection with the rest of the basement, as originally planned by Julia Morgan and W.R. Hearst. Work is well under way on the basement excavating - but is slow as the charges of dynamite have to be small!" Hearst replied on July 8th: "I like the basement layout very much and appreciate the value of having the different parts of the basement separated by fireproof walls." As additions to Casa Grande were made, the basements were enlarged and eventually more than 9000 square feet of separate basement rooms were created, most used as storage vaults.
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The best location for a wine cellar is below ground level in a basement. The reason for that is the temperature is generally cooler and more humid conditions already exist. A corner of a basement, with two exterior walls and free of windows, is ideal. Wine cellars built above grade, where basements do not exist, simply require special attention and materials to properly insulate and seal the room thoroughly. One of the most important factors in choosing a wine cellar location is deciding on the type and location of a cooling system. Most cooling units are installed through a wall and exhaust into an adjacent interior room that is at least equal in size to the wine cellar.
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Residential wine cellars can be either active or passively cooled. Actively cooled wine cellars are highly insulated and need to be properly constructed. These types of wine cellars utilize specific wine cellar conditioning and cooling systems to maintain the desired temperature and humidity. Many systems only control the temperature and not the humidity so it is important to look for a system that actively controls both with temperature and humidification integrated into the unit. Passively cooled wine cellars take advantage of naturally cool and damp areas (such as basements with uninsulated outside walls in cool and temperate climates) when minor seasonal and diurnal temperature variations can be tolerated. Passive wine cellars may be less predictable, but cost nothing to operate and aren't affected by power outages.
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Configured like a wine cellar, this cozy restaurant in the basement of Old Town Shopping Center offers Italian and American staples in a pleasing date-night atmosphere. The restaurant makes use of nooks and crannies to create a comfortable, relaxed ambience conducive to hand-holding across the table.
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For those who have some free space in the basement, the area reserved for the wine cellar, walls and floor, must be perfectly airtight. Preferably, the walls are of stone or masonry and the packed earth floor is covered with gravel.
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