Though builder Brett Schoolnick, president of the Baywood Design/Build Group of Columbia, included a cedar bench, the couple uses the room strictly for storage.
"It's a convenience. If we find wines we like, we can buy them by the case," Dr. Josh Madden said. "We love wine, and we love trying new wines."
Builders say it is the climate of the room that makes a wine cellar unique, a version of a walk-in refrigerator. Special construction is a must, said Schoolnick.
"We use pressure treated lumber for framing and rigid insulation, then you sort of wrap the whole thing with a vapor barrier," Schoolnick said. Cedar or redwood gives the rooms a pleasant aroma and can be used for racks, walls and the like.
The cold, damp environment sends some people to a warmer tasting area.
"If you are used to a 70-degree environment, you wouldn't stay in there too long without a sweater or jacket," said Dirck Bartlett, director of business development for Ilex, an East Coast custom builder. Some clients have preferred a separate area outside the wine cellar for wine-related gatherings.
Goldstein said about 20 percent of his business is tear-outs and rebuilding of improperly done rooms, where walls have crumbled, mold and dust have creeped in, or where arid air caused wine to evaporate.
Carving out space
Yet people who are handy have built their own wine rooms, using kits, online how-to instructions or ingenuity.
Figuring the excavated area under the family-room addition to their Towson home would accumulate something, Andy and Brenda Evans turned it into a wine room, doing all but the electrical and climate work themselves.
The old-and-rustic ambience comes from the reuse of old building materials and furnishings that include their former wood kitchen table, an old dresser as a sideboard, candles and sconces.
The racks, from a kit bought online, can hold up to 500 bottles.
"It's not so much about how much wine do you have, but you have a different kind of experience. It's a place we share with friends, away from the kitchen," Andy Evans, 47, said.
"The fun thing for us about wine is that every one of those bottles has a story," he said, from family events, travel and more.
Homeowners with less unused space -- or who keep a smaller amount of wine on hand -- are carving out space for wine coolers, from under-counter chillers to keep a few dozen bottles in a kitchen to freestanding units that can hold much more.
