In an earlier post, loutent said he made wine racks out of cedar. It reminded me of something I heard on This Old House just yesterday. They are building a wine cellar in the current house. The builder said he wouldn't be using cedar because the corks will pick up the cedar scent which will introduce an unwelcome flavor in the wine. Comments?
Cedar in the wine cellar
Aug 21, 2005
9 Replies
Never thought about it, but I'm sure it could be affected by any aromatics. Many wines today are using composite corks, but surely not all.
As long as it is a non-aromatic cedar it should be okay.
Hi Joe,
I have had no problems with the cedar. I used the non-aromatic stuff - the type that you might use for siding etc. Like I said, I bought 1x8 boards from Lowes, then ripped them to 3/4 square strips.
Had it for about 5 years now (in an enclosed storage room) in our basement. If you closed your eyes, you could not know that it was cedar (by the odor).
Lou
Capitol B-U-L-L-!
You notice that the Woman was trying to sell you THEIR wine racks which weren't made of cedar? If your wine had picked up the cedar through the cork (and many now use plastics) it would be because it was in a cedar cork (think about that one)..... try like maybe impossible Corked wines have sat on the bottoms of Oceans and Seas in great depths under immense pressures for centuries with no effect what-so-ever.............
People will actually say this from now on because they saw it on TV and IT MUST BE TRUE!!!!
People can lie an make up s*it as they go just to make a buck! Don't believe anything you hear, half of what you see!
Hi HMFIC!
Yep, I agree.
If you use your noggin', you usually can't go wrong.
Lou
I think he was referring to "aromatic" cedar ( the kind that keeps the moths away) I don't think regular cedar has much of a smell to it.
If you believe the pretentious oenophiles can tell you vintage, rainfall and degree of slope of the hill a vine grew on by a whiff and a taste, you gotta believe they can detect the cedar oil. If I, best described as a commonsewer of wine can smell it in a single board of eastern white or western red, imagine how thick it must get in a closed room.
Or maybe the folks who will pay the $$$ for that place will drink only wine with twistoff metal caps....
I built a sauna four years ago; it is lined with Eastern White Cedar. It went in green and still has the wonderful cedar smell even when cold. I keep two small windows open all the time. BUT, a wine rack made of EWS in an open room would should have no detectable smell after a year of drying. A wine cellar is usually a closed room; here EWS would not be such a good idea. Dave
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