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Beautiful Basements: Down in the Cellar

A homeowner with a passion for wine—and a very large collection—creates a custom cellar in McLean. By Ann Cochran

Designed by David Spon, this 12,000-bottle wine cellar in McLean uses white-maple racks to create a modern, airy feel. The owner’s Château Mouton Rothschild collection dates back to 1874. Photograph by Ron Blunt.

Comments () | Published August 15, 2012

If You Want to Create a Wine Cellar

Stay organized
Store wines by region and drinkability—you can stash bottles that need more aging high up, out of reach.

Incorporate a work area
Add counters or a table to the cellar for unpacking, rearranging, and pulling wines to be served.

Think “green”
Use natural materials such as water-soluble stains and natural finishes. Wine is a living organism that breathes in odors through the cork, and because wine cellars are airtight, smells don’t dissipate. If chemical odors seep in, they could affect the wine’s taste.

While touring a village in the Bordeaux region of France, the owner of this McLean home was fascinated to learn that Château Mouton Rothschild was the first estate to bottle its own wine. He began amassing a collection that now includes 110 Château Mouton Rothschild vintages dating as far back as 1874.

In 2002, he hired well-known Connecticut-based designer David Spon to create a wine cellar to showcase this beloved collection and organize the rest of his many wines. “With 12,000 bottles, it’s a very dense layout,” says Spon. One danger with a cellar this big is that it can look like a warehouse—Spon added curved racks at the end of storage rows and recessed coves to soften the edges. White-maple shelves give the space a fresh, contemporary look.

A glass case lined with bottles of Château Mouton Rothschild—an oenophile trophy case of sorts—separates the cellar from the tasting room. Along the walls of the tasting room are framed, limited-edition Château Mouton Rothschild wine labels painted by such artists as Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, and Andy Warhol.

The cellar and tasting room see a lot of traffic. In 2008, the homeowner decided to turn his passion for fine wines into a business. He now owns Five Grapes, a wine distributor that also helps people develop and manage their collections.

Friends and customers often descend into the 16-by-16-foot tasting room, which has a table that seats eight. “There is no best time to open a great bottle,” says the homeowner, “but I like to do it with people who know, like, and appreciate the art and science of wine.”

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This article appears in the August 2012 issue of The Washingtonian.