10 Reasons for Owning an Underground Wine Cave

1. Storage – A consistent temperature range (55°F -60°F) provides optimum year-round conditions for aging and storing your wine, and it is also ideal for storing used barrels without drying them out. Surface warehouses require energy to cool, heat and humidity. Storage space can take up precious winery space.
2. Lower Product Evaporation – High humidity minimizes evaporation. Humidity in a wine cave is naturally 70-90%. In comparison to a surface warehouse, a wine cave can reduce the average evaporation during storage from four gallons out of each sixty gallon-barrel per year, down to one gallon per barrel per year! Red wines require an average humidity level of 75% for aging and barrel storage, and they are aged for an average of two years, which represents a 10% gross volume loss difference. White wines require an average humidity level of 85% or higher for aging and barrel storage, and they are barrel-aged for one year, representing a 5% gross volume loss difference. In short, reduced evaporation means increased profits.
3. Site Utilization – Above ground storage warehouses take up a large amount of land space, while underground installation frees valuable surface area for multiple uses (vineyard, parking, gardens, landscaping, etc.) Also, in much of California, many land-use restrictions that may hamper surface construction, do not apply to underground construction.
4. Marketing and Tourism – Wine enthusiasts are drawn to the ambiance wine caves offer for production tours, wine tastings, food pairings, wine auctions, and special events. With Cut and Cover Wine Caves, the possibilities for your winery are nearly limitless. Beyond storage, our wine caves can offer the availability of tasting rooms, kitchens, restrooms, offices, and even concert areas. Our wine caves will help to make your winery a unique and memorable experience for all.
5. Reduce Construction Cost – Our innovative, (patent pending), preformed, interlocking modules are built off-site and shipped to your estate or winery. Other wine caves today are made by blasting a cave into the ground, reinforced with wire fabric, and in some cases shotcrete. Many sites do not lend easily to this process due to complex geology and poor quality rock. Planning and permitting times for subterranean structures compared to drilled caves are also greatly reduced with our system. This allows for building wine caves in areas that are otherwise unsuitable for cave construction, lowering overall building costs by saving time, labor, and materials.
6. Save Energy – Underground wine caves naturally hold consistent temperature and humidity levels. This helps to eliminate the substantial heating, cooling, and humidifying costs of a surface warehouse, creating a more effective and efficient storage area for your estate or winery.
7. Carbon Footprint – Cut and Cover Wine Caves are ecologically and environmentally sound, constructed using innovative and sustainable building practices. Coupled with lowering the use of electricity and gas to power your storage facility, our wine caves will help to decrease the carbon footprint of your business.
8. Increased Safety and Security – All Cut and Cover Wine Caves provide both ingress and egress for safety, security, and convenience. Fire suppression technology is also available in any wine cave we design and build, allowing you to feel secure in the safety of your stored wines.
9. Lower Taxes – ABC tax in California is $.80 per gallon, if Alcohol By Volume is higher than 14%, the tax raises to $1.40 per gallon.
10. Increased Profitability – Lower operational costs, greater construction savings, lower product evaporation, and increased volume of tourism translate into more wine sales at a lower cost for storage and production.