Only 20% of homes have an underground cellar. So how do you store your bottles when you are an amateur? Born under the auspices of a good vintage, in 1976, the air-conditioned wine cabinet has been greatly improved by the two French specialists: EuroCave, the creator of the concept (with the brands ArteVino and Transtherm), and Frio (La Sommelière , Climadiff, Avintage, Provintech).
The glass cellar, backlit and silent, has taken the place of the buffet
The unsightly blind and buzzing sideboard, placed next to the freezer in the pantry or garage, is now among the stars of kitchen appliances, when it is not invited into the living room. The glass cellar, backlit and silent, has taken the place of the sideboard in the social hierarchy of furniture.
In reality, in a French market of 220,000 sales per year, there are two categories of wine cellars. The first is the aging model, generally of large capacity (from 100 to 300 bottles), to supplement the vaulted and cool cave under the house. The bottles can remain there for years, stored twelve months out of twelve in ideal conditions of temperature – 14-16°C – and humidity. The other model, called “service”, accommodates wines to be drunk more quickly, stored at the tasting temperature. Sometimes it has two differentiated compartments: 18°C for reds, 7-8 for whites.
“This is the category that sells the most, in line with consumer trends that are moving away from age-worthy wines and favoring whites and rosés,” explains Benoit Favier, general director of EuroCave. The world No. 1 manufactures all its products in France, in Fourmies (North), and exports 80% of them. The success of the service cellar, smaller (from 8 to 100 bottles) and more economical, goes hand in hand with the fashion for built-in modules in the kitchen. The specialized manufacturer Avintage (Frio group), leader among kitchen designers, takes great care to adapt its products to the standard size of oven niches or refrigerators.
However, true wine lovers cannot do without an aging cellar, more or less sophisticated and expensive depending on the value of the bottles they store there. Some, especially in large formats, can be multifunctional with service compartments. A cellar consumes a little more energy than a fridge, around 10 euros per month. Because a good cabinet must respect the five golden criteria: a precise and constant temperature, controlled humidity, absence of vibration, a filtration-ventilation system and protection against light.
Triple-glazed cabinets
On this subject, purists will prefer a piece of furniture with a solid door to maintain total darkness, not very elegant but efficient (energy class E), to be plugged into a discreet place in the house. Conversely, more and more aesthetic enthusiasts are opting for a pretty transparent door – triple anti-UV glazing, class F – which reveals the contents of the wine library: 6 sales out of 10 at the consumer brand ArteVino, and 90% at its premium big sister EuroCave, which offers a wide range of customizable options – shelf sizes for various bottle formats, presentation direction to highlight labels, etc.
Manufacturers are working more and more on the aesthetics and lighting of their cabinets. “The wine we have at home speaks about us. Before, when we were hosted at someone’s house, we would go through their library, their vinyls, their CDs. Today, we look at their bottles, which are not close to being digitized!” points out Didier Grychta, CEO of Frio.
Comes with a digital cellar book
The competition is now also being played out on connectivity: remote programming, smartphone alerts… In this area, La Sommelière has taken a head start with its ECellar185 aging model, claimed to be the “first intelligent connected cellar in the world”. “Beyond 100 bottles, it’s difficult to know exactly what we have in stock,” explains Didier Grychta. “We let bottles that should have been drunk age too much. Or at the end of the evening, on the fourth, we forget to remove it from the register.” ECellar addresses these difficulties. Thanks to the Vinotag app, backed by the Vivino global platform, bottles entering the cellar are referenced by label recognition. The location is saved. The system automatically counts outputs using shelves with connected sensors. The digital cellar book is always up to date and sends alerts on bottles at their peak. Since its launch in 2021, ECellar185 has established itself as “the best-selling cellar in models above 3,000 euros”, affirms the manager of Frio.
Overall, the wine cabinet market continues to grow. “Storage needs are increasing for two new reasons,” analyzes Benoit Favier. “With global warming, certain natural cellars no longer meet the conditions for peaceful storage. And in particular for natural, more fragile wines, which are very successful. For them, a temperature of 18 degrees presents real risks of alteration.” One day, we will perhaps no longer say that we “go down” to the cellar…
THE EXPRESS SELECTION
EuroCave Revelation Glass Door
Single temperature for aging, capacity 182 bottles, permanent LED lighting or when opening, sliding shelves equipped with a retarder, French manufacturing. €8,010.
ArteVino Oxygen
Full door, two insulated compartments for aging or cooling, capacity 206 bottles, French manufacturing. €1,839.
ArteVino Oxygen
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Climadiff Reserve 275
Large capacity aging cellar (264 bottles), full door “winter” system for unheated room. €1,499.
Avintage AVU53 Premium
Built-in service cellar, two temperature zones, glass door, 53 bottles, a presentation shelf to showcase the most beautiful ones. €2,199.
Avintage wine cabinet
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La Sommelière Apogée 150PV
Aging cellar, rounded design, multi-format shelves – bottles of Burgundy, Bordeaux, Alsace, etc. – without reduction in capacity (147 bottles), in horizontal or upside-down position, ambient window lighting, €1,299.
La Sommeliere ECellar185
Aging cellar with 168 locations, 17-bottle storage area, Vinotag automated cellar management application, instant detection of bottle additions and removals on connected shelves, assisted placement according to the recommended aging time, wine search function using a light diode , stock alerts and peak dates. €3,990.