70 HUDSON VALLEY WINE Fall 2015 www.hvwinemag.com Fall 2015 71

Wine UndergroundBy Debbie Gioquindo, CTC, CSW, WLS

WINE COUNTRY TRAVEL

The wine cave as a means of wine storage has been around for centuries. They date back tothe Roman Empire when wine was stored in catacombs, originally used as burial chambers.These underground caves and tunnels, which often stretched for miles, protected the winefrom the harsh environment, preserved it, and let it age gently. In France, the first wine caveswere abandoned crayeres (chalk pits) left behind by the Romans who excavated the limestone foruse as building blocks. These same caves now house many of the famous Champagne cellars innorthern France.

is that a geothermal structure begins eight feetbelow the surface, where it is a constant 55 F.Long tubes are installed in trenches that travelhorizontally, below ground, out to the field andback to the winery, in a loop. Glycol is pumpedthrough these pipes to maintain a constant 50 Ftemperature. Upon return, the glycol is sentthrough an exchanger that heats or cools thewater that is then pumped through the wineryfloor. This regulates the temperature in the winery.

Whitecliffs geothermal winery holds 12,000 casesof wine. Their red wine ages between 18 and 24 months, and their reserve red wines (about 10percent of their production) are released three to five years later to wine club members. In themeantime, the wine is enjoys gentle, environment-friendly aging.

Tours of the winery are available to the publicSundays in October, and by appointment to theirCase Club members.

Whitecliff Vineyard331 McKinstry Rd. | Gardiner, NYwww.whitecliffwine.com

Laying the Groundwork at Home Wineries all have some type of temperaturecontrolled environments for their storing andaging their wine. Thats a given. They are usuallyelaborate due to the nature of the business, butwhat about you and me? Do we need our ownwine cellar?

Personally I would say, yes. A wine cellar can be as simple as a small wine refrigerator that will store six or 12 bottles of wine in a stable,temperature controlled fashion. More elaborateones can store a few hundred bottles, thoughthey do have a heftier price tag to go along withthem. But then, so will the value of your winecollection.

If you want something even larger and have theroom for it (like a dry basement) another optionwould be to speak to a wine cellar consultant.They can help you determine the best options forstorage in your specific space. In the HudsonValley, WineRacks.com offers both consultationand custom design services for wine cellars.

Whether you spend $10 or $100 on a bottle ofwine, youll want to make sure its stored properlyonce its in your possession, so that when youpull the cork it will taste exactly as the winemakerintended. Cheers!

So, why do wineries still store wine in an undergroundwine cave or wine cellar? Simple: In addition to thebenefits of energy efficiency and the fact that they dontuse additional above-ground land space, the undergroundcave provides high humidity and cool temperatures both key to proper wine storage and aging. A wine caveprovides a consistent temperature between 55 F and 57 F, and a humidity level between 50 and 80 percent,which is also ideal for minimizing evaporation. Not allwineries have caves to cellar their wine, though. Instead,traditional and modern cellars are specially designed andbuilt with these specs in mind, with the same goal ofnaturally storing and aging wine as the ancient caves.

Hudson Valley RootsSubterranean wine caves in the U.S. date back to the early nineteenth century, when the more successfulcommercial wineries on the east coast constructedunderground cellars for barrel storage and wine aging. In the Hudson Valley, man-made wine caves predatedCalifornias first underground cellars by at least threedecades. In 1839, John Jaques began construction on the first of Brotherhood Winerys several wine caves.Additional cellars followed in 1855, and again in the 1890s as the winery expanded and increased their wineand champagne production. Underground tunnels were built to link the various cellars, and their vast storagecapabilities enabled the winery to store and age theirchampagnes during Prohibition, successfully preservinghalf a million bottles to bring to market after Repeal. Once considered the largest underground wine caves inAmerica, the wine cellars of Brotherhood Winery are still in use and open to the public.

Today, when you visit the winery in Washingtonville, thetour includes these underground caves and tunnels. Amust for everyone!

Brotherhood, Americas Oldest Winery100 Brotherhood Plaza Dr. | Washingtonville, NY www.brotherhood-winery.com

The Big ChillA more traditional cellar can be found at MillbrookVineyards & Winery, in Dutchess County. In 1979, JohnDyson purchased the abandoned Wing Dairy Farm, and amajor renovation project followed in the Dutch-style barn,where the low ceiling (below ground) was raised to makeroom for vertical stainless steel tanks. Walls and ceilingswere insulated, followed by the installation of a very largerefrigeration system, known as a chiller. Each of thecellar rooms has a separate thermostat to control its owntemperature. Millbrooks winemaker can alter thetemperature depending on what he is trying to achieve forthe wine. Both of Millbrooks warehouses are cooled in thesame manner, and their maximum storage capacity isapproximately 45,000 gallons.

Without a doubt, the chiller has a large capacity andallows Millbrook to create and store large quantities oftheir quality wines. You can tour the same cellars whilethere for a tasting.

Millbrook Vineyards & Winery26 Wing Rd. | Millbrook, NYwww.millbrookwine.com

Evolutionary AgingA unique and modern day facility can be found atWhitecliff Vineyard. In 2011, the owners constructed a new geothermal winery building to accommodate theirincreased wine production needs. It is one of only twosuch systems in New York State.

A geothermal structure is environmentally green innature, and can cut heating and cooling costs by a third.As Whitecliffs owner Michael Migliore explained, winewants to be kept at 55 F, and the ground temperature onhis Gardiner property is 54 F. So, instead of building anunderground cave, this was one way to bring the cave upinto the winery.

Like any other building, a geothermal structure isconstructed from the ground up, however, the difference

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