Q:

I just bought my first house, and it has a stone basement. I was thinking about starting a home wine cellar down there, but it has that old-basement smell. Will this affect the wine?

Arvin Byrnes, Griswold, CT

A:

You shouldn’t have a problem. Any type of wine closure—be it cork, plastic cork, or screw cap—forms an impermeable seal which will keep out extraneous odors as well as air. The main factors to consider when creating a wine cellar are that you want a location with a constant temperature between 55º and 60ºF, without any source of light or vibration. Avoid a place with great fluctuations in temperature, which could cause expansion and contraction of the wine.