Wine is climbing like a vine to a top role in the American home.
Home-décor catalogs are filled with items related to corks, labels, bottles and barrels. New homes are constructed with wine bars and even cellars. Neighborhood block parties are turning into wine tastings.
What gives?
"There is something sexy about it," said Ryan Sciara, managing partner of Cellar Rat Wine Merchants in Kansas City, Mo. "Even my sister, who doesn't drink wine, decorates with it."
"Wine has become more democratic," said Samantha Nestor, author of the new book "Living With Wine" (Clarkson Potter, $75, 256 pages). "A single working woman is just as likely to become a collector as anyone else."
Nestor, special projects editor at Metropolitan Home magazine, has noticed more wine-storage and tasting areas being integrated into homes. Cellars aren't tucked into the caves of basements anymore. They're built under stairwells and inside closets.
Floor-to-ceiling wine walls are the main feature in some dining rooms.
Nestor's book showcases wine in dozens of residences, including those in Napa Valley and New York, with traditional wood racking or state-of-the-art stainless steel.
The next big thing in residential wine storage is "very Vegas." Inspired by restaurants, the future just might be cool-burning LED lighting to illuminate bottles in pink, green and blue. But what most stood out to Nestor as she researched the book was the people.
"They were each about creating an experience," Nestor said.
"As they opened up a bottle of wine, they delighted in introducing people to new wine and telling the stories of their collecting journeys."
Storing wine in your own home? Here are some of the experts' tips:
• Keep it in a cool place, ideally between 55 and 57 degrees.
• Humidity should be about 60 percent. When it's higher than 70 percent, it can degrade the labels and glue. Below 50 percent, corks dry out, creating a loss of liquid that can damage the wine.
• Avoid direct light.
• Don't move bottles much, because that can disturb wine sediments and damage the wine.
• Most current wine refrigerators don't vibrate much, and that's a good thing.
• For a cost-efficient cellar, assemble modular, add-on-capable redwood units.
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