Wine cellars by design are meant to be cool and dark places. With this in mind, many homeowners overlook the lighting in their wine cellar entirely and just pick whatever works. But, there are some considerations you should make when deciding upon lighting to choose for your wine cellar. In this post from the Illuminaries blog, we’ll give you some tips on how to light a wine cellar properly and efficiently.
Wine Cellar Lighting Should Be Discrete
Some of the most stylish and best laid-out wine cellars feature lighting fixtures that you can hardly notice. As the area is a wine cellar, the focus should be placed squarely on the namesake of the room — the wine. Wine cellars use low intensity and low heat-producing lighting. These light fixtures should be placed to create tasteful pools of illumination that won’t harm the wine and look great. Additionally, ample lighting will make it safer to traverse your wine cellar without bumping or banging into anything by accident. The lighting of your wine cellar should place focus on your wine while remaining discrete and stylish.
Things To Avoid When Lighting Your Wine Cellar
There are a few things you shouldn’t do when lighting a wine cellar that can help you decide the best layout for your own cellar.
Avoid Sunlight (and UV rays) At All Costs
Daylight is perhaps the biggest enemy of aging fine wine. Sunlight making its way into your wine cellar and onto your wine is one of the easiest ways to spoil your expensive products. Your wine cellar should be well protracted from the heat of the sun, as well as its harmful UV rays.
It’s important to keep in mind that some types of bulbs also produce UV rays that can easily spoil your wine, so make sure to perform ample research before you make a purchase. Fluorescent light tubes are a popular option for general lighting but often emit UV rays. Additionally, fluorescent light tubes aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing option when trying to provide tasteful lighting to a room like a wine cellar.
Choose Lighting Sources That Don’t Produce Much Heat
Another important factor to consider when lighting your wine cellar is that you don’t want to select a fixture or lighting source that produces too much heat. Wine cellars are meant to be between 50 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit, and some light fixtures can easily heat your room up by an additional 10 to 15 degrees. This makes your air conditioning for the room have to work even harder to keep the room at your ideal temperature. Popular lighting options like incandescent and halogen light bulbs often run too hot for small areas and temperature dependant like wine cellars.
Don’t Forget To Turn The Lights Off
Wine cellars are meant to stay dark, so when someone isn’t in the room, make sure the lights are off. Motion detection sensors and light timers are great options to ensure that the lights are off in your wine cellar when nobody is in the room.
For Tasteful Wrought Iron Lighting For Your Wine Cellar, Choose Illuminaries
At Illuminaries, we handcraft high-quality wrought iron lighting fixtures that can be fitted with any kind of bulb or lighting source on the market. Our wrought iron lighting fixtures for wine cellars are custom-crafted to meet your exact specifications and requirements. To learn more,
shop our products or
contact us online today to get started on your custom wrought iron lighting fixtures.
