THE FIRST CELLAR
LOCATION THROUGH THE BUTLER’S PANTRY IN THE KITCHEN SIZE 0.7M X 1.8M, TOTAL 2.5 SQUARE METRES BOTTLE CAPACITY 500 CHALLENGES DISCOVERING THE OLD HOME’S WALLS WERE NO LONGER SQUARE THE BRIEF TO CREATE A CELLAR FOR A BURGEONING WINE COLLECTION THAT CAN ALSO BECOME A FLEXIBLE SPACE FOR THE HOME’S NEXT OWNERS IF THEY DON'T COLLECT WINE. .
WHEN CIARA first started dating her now-husband Stewart, he didn’t own a single wine glass. Times have definitely changed – the couple is about to finish renovating their 90-year-old Brisbane Queenslander, complete with a cellar for their growing wine collection.
“Being in Queensland, the weather is pretty harsh, so we were particularly worried about the extreme heat fluctuations,” Ciara says. “What we’ve done is position the room so it doesn’t get any sunlight on the external wall,” she says. They also ensured the walls were double thickness, and added high-grade insulation to the walls, floor and ceiling. The space doesn’t get any direct light, with just a single, mellow downlight installed, and it is also in a low-traffic area of the home.
“The biggest thing we struggled with at the time, and we probably made the right decision, is that the cellar was originally going to be twice as big,” Ciara says. “But then we took into account this is not our ‘forever home’ and we still want it to be useful for the next family, so we added an additional metre of space to our ensuite. The double basin won!”
The couple has been doing most of the work on the house themselves, with the help of Stewart’s dad Dennis, a master builder based in South Australia. Long before the couple found this house, Stewart and Dennis made a hardwood wine rack together, which was a key consideration when designing their cellar. “We built the back wall so it would fit the rack. It’s a really special item that we’ll never part with,” Ciara says.
They feel the same way about a fruit bowl that Stewart’s dad made from an old jarrah post he salvaged from Penfolds after working on the winery’s cellar. The bowl is on display in the cellar, along with their decanters, glasses and wine books. Stewart says a cellar was always going to take priority in their renovations. “We’ve spent some money on our wines, so we thought it would be appropriate,” he says. “If we’d had an unlimited budget, we would have made the cellar temperaturecontrolled and put a door on it, although there is the ability to put one on.”
They hit a few hurdles while working on the house, but Stewart says they only encountered a couple with the cellar.
“We had to modify it a bit to make the ensuite slightly bigger, and for the ducted air-conditioning unit to be installed. And because the house is 90 years old, the walls had moved and weren’t plumb, so that made it more challenging!”
The cellar space also incorporates a wine cabinet, which is home to their particularly special bottles, including a 2011 Grange – marking the year the couple met – plus their favourite Champagnes and South Australian reds. They plan to buy another wine cabinet and also look forward to fixing racking to the wall, with large brackets already in place that can hold more than 350kg. However, other elements elsewhere in the house must come first. When it’s time to celebrate the house’s completion, though, a bottle of Cristal is waiting.
“THE SPACE DOESN’T GET ANY DIRECT LIGHT, WITH JUST A SINGLE, MELLOW DOWNLIGHT INSTALLED, AND IT IS ALSO IN A LOW-TRAFFIC AREA OF THE HOME.”