When starting your wine collection you should consider the following things:

1) How much money do you want to invest in collecting wine?

This will help you determine the size of wine cellar you need as well as help you to select the proper wines to fill it.

2) How much space do you have for your collection? And where are you going to put it?

The ideal conditions for your wine cellar are:

• a constant temperature between 7ºC - 18ºC
• 60% relative humidity
• a darker area in your home
• an area with as little movement as possible
• enough space so the bottles can easily be stores on an angle to prevent the cork from drying out

If you have the ideal space for your cellar than we recommend that you go with a wooden wine rack. They are easy to find online and through many brick and mortar stores at reasonable prices and made with high quality materials. They offer convenience, expandability, and strength all in one allowing you to continually change and modify your collection.

If you do not have the ideal conditions for storing wine in your home not to worry, there are incredible lines of refrigerated wine cabinets that create the ideal storing conditions for you. They maintain a stable temperature and humidity which is great for your collection. They also come in a variety of sizes to match your space and financial constraints.

3) What type of collector do you want to be?

Horizontal Collector - collects a variety of wines reaching across the varietals creating a balanced collection. The goal of this style of collecting is to have a diverse selection that is great for any occasion. A typical horizontal collection would include:
2 - Bordeaux 2 - Red Burgundies 2 - "Cru" Beaujolais
2 - Red Rhone's 4 - Italian Reds 2 - South African Reds
2 - Chilean Reds 2 - Californian Reds 2 - Spanish Reds
2 - White Burgundies 2 - White Bordeaux 2 - Alsatian Whites
2 - German Moseles 2 - Italian Whites 2 - Californian Whites
2 - Australian Reds 2 - German Rhines 2 - South African Whites
2 - Dessert Wines 2 - Sparkling Wines 2 - British Columbia Whites

Vertical Collector - will find a type of wine they like and then collect all the different vintages (years) of that wine. The idea of this style of collecting is to have different vintages of the same wine stacked vertically in your cellar.

Casual Collector - has no rhyme or reason to the wines they collect and so their collection may be very diverse or very specific depending on their preferences. While this is not the typical method of collecting wine the results will be just as enjoyable to the collector.

When collecting wine it is important to remember that heat, light and movement are enemies to your collection. To keep these factors to a minimum we recommend that you also invest in a small wine rack for your daily and weekly wines so that you do not have to go in and out of your cellar as often. These racks can be great additions to the decor of your house since they come in such a large variety of shapes and styles.

Becoming a wine collector may seem like a daunting task but it does not have to be. It does not matter what types of wine you have in your collection just as long as you enjoy them all.

If you are just starting your collection and you are anxious to see it grow without putting in a large initial investment then we recommend that for every bottle you use, you replace it with two new bottles, following this simple rule you should have a great collection in no time!