UNDER THE HOUSE

LOCATION UNDER THE HOUSE, IN A FORMER STORAGE AREA WITH A WELL SIZE 5.6M X 5.2M, TOTAL 30 SQUARE METRES BOTTLE CAPACITY 4400 CHALLENGES BEING IN THE BASEMENT, DRAINAGE AND WATERPROOFING WORKS WERE VITAL THE BRIEF TO CREATE A FUNCTIONAL BUT ATTRACTIVE PERMANENT CELLAR THAT ALSO ALLOWS FOR ENTERTAINING GUESTS

SOMETIMES A HOUSE manages to tick all the boxes with the perfect space to covert into a cellar. This was the case for Andrew when he set about creating one in his Melbourne home. The original owners may not have had future wine storage in mind when they built the house in the 1850s, but the unique basement area, complete with storage space and a well, has proven ideal.

“When Cellar Creations came out to see it, Robert [Rolls] said, ‘I don’t give guarantees, but I’m 99.9 per cent confident you will never have a problem,’” Andrew says. And so far so good, despite a tense experience during torrential downpours soon after the cellar’s completion six years ago. “I was really worried because water was draining into the well and I thought it was going to spill,” he says. Happily, it did its job and the cellar remained unaffected. “I’ve never once had an issue,” Andrew says.

After spending 11 years in the UK,

Andrew and his wife, Sam, had acquired “a few thousand” mostly European wines, which needed a new home when the family returned to Australia. The treasured collection includes Champagne, “a smattering” of white Burgundy and riesling, plus other wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux and Tuscany. Today, the collection is around 4000 bottles strong, with 20 per cent made up of Australian wines.

One of the first things the couple needed to determine was their required bottle capacity. “We have now almost stopped buying wine and the reason is that we drink about three bottles a week, which is 150 bottles a year, and that means I’ve got 30 years of drinking in the cellar, which will put me into my 80s,” he says. “If we start to get through it too quickly, we can always buy more.”

The building process involved dealing with rising damp, drainage works, waterproofing and a new internal wall. This all worked to restrict any water issues and future moisture from wreaking havoc. The space was then insulated, allowing for a break between the panels and walls, and a cooling unit was installed. “Again we got very lucky because the unit sits outside the house, and there was an existing cavity to run the piping,” Andrew says. The couple’s initial vision was for exposed brick walls, but this can sometimes lead to drainage issues, so they instead opted for a full timber fit-out. This incorporates hand-cut cedar lining and racking, which is two bottles deep to accommodate the extensive collection. The timber panelling also features on the roof, which wasn’t the original idea. “We had wanted exposed beams, but when they were revealed, they weren’t very attractive,” Andrew says. “Even six years later, you can still smell the cedar.”

Andrew and Sam love to take guests into their cellar for a pre-dinner drink when entertaining. And while the space has a dining table for 10 people, they don’t tend to linger. “No one wants to sit in a cellar for dinner when it’s 16 degrees,” he says. They are extremely happy with their space, which holds a number of sentimental bottles, including wines from their sons’ birth years, plus others that mark their wedding. “We have some 1991 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and we open a bottle each year on our anniversary.”

“I WAS REALLY WORRIED BECAUSE WATER WAS DRAINING INTO THE WELL AND I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO SPILL, BUT I'VE NEVER ONCE HAD AN ISSUE.”