Big, bold, bright, beneath the ground or brazenly above, here’s where you can read about some of the world’s best cellars.
I recently visited what’s said to be the largest private wine cellar on the east coast, a place I had toured several years ago and now, with a bit more wine knowledge under my belt, was eager to revisit. This time around, I was no less awestruck. That piqued my curiosity about other cellars across the globe and socio-economic sectors (richest, famous, biggest). Here’s a roundup of reading on the subject, so you, too, can be gobsmacked or, if you’re lucky to have the resources, be inspired for your own collection.
Architectural Digest offers a look at five restaurants with best cellars, from secret caves to sexy urban spaces to exotic locales (2017).
The Travel Channel goes out on a wild and crazy limb with its slideshow on “10 Craziest Cellars and Wineries” across the globe from ancient Etruscan caves and Tuscan-inspired castles to space-age wineries that look poised for takeoff into the universe.
Wine Enthusiast looks at 10 of the world’s largest hotel and restaurant collections. (2013) And also eight designed in high style for underground sipping and storing.
Armchair Sommelier has a rundown of wine cellars of the rich and famous, including some cool designs from the entertainment world.
Who should know better than The World of Fine Wine about the more impressive cellars in the world? (2022) Their picks includes a blue-lit cathedral-inspired cellar in Tennessee and a couple of light shows in Turkey.
The VinoVest blog looks at 12 famous wine collectors: Assume they have cellars of some renown.
CNN Style looks at best-designed cellars from bunkers to volcanoes and spanning the reaches from the Old World to Hong Kong.
SOMMTV looks at four individual collectors and one mega producer with a mega collection (spoiler alert: begins with an “M” and appears on almost every list.
For a mono-regional look, Maldives magazine featured the 10 most impressive cellars in the archipelagic state. On the tourism beat, Portugal.net offers up best wine cellars to visit in Porto’s historic Vila Nova de Gaia neighborhood, where most of port wine is aged. Some of the legacy producers have museums or other educational showcases attached to the cellars. Winalist.com looks at five historic cellars and caves to visit in Champagne.
And for a mono-mono look, Punch.com takes readers inside to a singular cellar in Spain’s great gastronomic northern capital.
Leaving nothing to the imagination about its content, upscalelivingmag.com rounds up eight not to miss—most of these repeated in other articles, but including the Angels’ Wine Tower, a 54-foot-high illuminated tower in the Zurich airport’s Radisson Blu, that combines wine storage and a light show. And while we’re talking about the lux life, boatinternational.com rounds up best wine cellars to visit by super yacht. Which is actually a really fun and fascinating way to look at it.
Times of India puts together a global itinerary of must-visit cellars, including a U-shaped cellar overlooking the Bosphorus / Istanbul Strait.
Photos: Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, Vent d’Autan/Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer; Singita Boulders Lodge, Sabi Sands Game Reserve, Singita; Château Les Carmes, Ph Labegueire; Rekondo Wine Cellar, Reknodo; Bay of Many Coves, boatinternational.com; Angel’s Wine Tower, Zurich Tourism.