Controlling the temperature and humidity in your wine cellar

November 25, 2009 by
Filed under: environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, Intelligent Sensors, SensorProbes, temperature monitoring 

Recently, I was watching a home show on television that was all about building a wine cellar in your basement.  I don’t collect wine myself, but the space was beautiful and I couldn’t help but feel a little vicarious joy as I watched the home owners hold the first tasting party in their private cellar.

If you are a wine aficionado or if you make your living in the wine industry, you know that temperature and humidity control is crucial to storing and aging wines.  The optimal temperature for storing wines is a constant 50° – 55°.  If it is too cold, the wine won’t mature and will taste flat and lifeless; too warm and the wine will cook and end up tasting off.

The optimal humidity for wine storage is 55%-85%.   Maintaining the proper humidity is important primarily for protecting the integrity of the cork and preventing oxidization.  The last thing you want is to do is turn that expensive bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon into a lousy bottle of vinegar.

If you have a wine cellar, or are thinking of building one, you are going to want to have a quality environmental monitoring system in place.  This is true whether the wine cellar is in your home, your restaurant, or at a commercial winery.  The Ravica line of SensorProbes, temperature and humidity sensors, and sensor controlled relays can help you monitor the conditions in your wine cellar, even if you are away from your home or business.  Ravica’s easily configured web-interface can be set up to automatically turn on  air conditioning units and humidifiers to maintain the optimum temperature and humidity levels for your wine collection.  You can also be notified if your equipment is not operating properly by setting up email or text alerts that are sent when the specified temperature and humidity thresholds are surpassed.

If you need help designing an environmental monitoring system that will meet your wine storage needs, give us a call.  We’d love to hear about your project and help you protect your inventory.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Ravica!  And enjoy your glass of Beaujolais Nouveau this year, it is supposed to be a very good vintage.

~Jessica
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Related posts:

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  2. Temperature monitoring during the summer months
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  4. The future of airconditioning and how the rest of the world can monitor temperature
  5. Ideal temperature and humidity for a data room

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