Home cellars: Richard and Anine Voller
Richard and Anine Voller have resided in their quaint Observatory home for 10 years, complete with original wooden floors, marble fireplaces and ornate, decorative ceilings. Like many cosy cottages in the older parts of Cape Town, space is an issue, but they certainly haven’t allowed the structural limitations of their home to curb their enjoyment of the space. Most recently they renovated their attic and created an open-plan home office complete with 360-degree views of Table Mountain and the harbour.
Photographs by Toby Murphy
Five years ago they went the other way – under the house that is. While they work as an accountant and town planner respectively, they have always had an interest in wine which spurred them to design and build their own cellar… under their bedroom of all places. “We started building a collection of wine which was not well stored and so decided we needed a cellar. We were digging a pool at the time and realised that under the house was the only space available that made practical sense,” says Anine.
The work on the cellar started in 2004 when they cut the trapdoor and began to dig out the soil. A large space underground had been made and the brick walls were being built when the winter rains started – with resultant flooding that threatened to put an end to their wine cellar dreams. Being at the base of Table Mountain, the water literally drains off under their home. It took a year for them to build the correct natural drainage system from under the foundation of their house which links up to the stormwater drain outside, and dry out the cellar enough to begin the project again. They had anticipated a slightly larger space, complete with table and chairs for tastings, than what they ended up with, but due to limitations on the depth to which they could dig before reaching the water table, one cannot stand up straight in the cellar. However, it is 25 square metres in size and can store well over 1 000 bottles of wine, so its end result has been successful indeed. “We now get to store decent wines that require ageing, and it’s a cool party trick to pop open the trap door as well,” comments Richard.
The couple used the services of We3 Construction to help with the building of the cellar and, although they designed it themselves, they heeded professional advice in terms of support beams and walls which they needed to work around. Being underground, it is damp enough not to require a humidifier and they thought it may stay cool enough not to need an airconditioning unit either. But, after losing a couple of cases to oxidation in their first year, they installed a 12BTU Thermal Unit and now maintain the temperature at a consistent 19ºC.
Richard and Anine both agree that their cellar would be “remarkably easy, and relatively cost-effective for a lot of people to replicate”. The only major requirement is that your house has elevated flooring or a large foundation. There needs to be at least a metre of space between the natural ground and the floor level. If not, the excavation costs can be large and you also need to take care not to undermine the foundation or create an impact on any of the house’s support structures. For shelving they have made use of simple plastic milk crates which they place on their sides and they bought perspex which, when inserted into the crates, creates the cross-shelf system along the walls. They have also placed straw-type mats on the walled areas to keep the sealed boxes raised off the moisture of the concrete.
With all this space available, Richard and Anine now treat themselves to at least one trip a month into the winelands, pre-planning their itinerary and visiting about three estates. They prefer to buy six or 12 bottles at a time depending on the possible ageability of the wine and make a note of ageing potential in their catalogue when they place the wine in the cellar, removing one or two bottles a month at optimum age accordingly.
The couple’s favourites in their cellar at the moment are Tattinger, Dom Perignon 1999 (which Anine received as a gift and they will be enjoying with the ‘gift-givers’ later this year), Cloof Crucible Shiraz, the Ernie Els Bordeaux blend, Meerlust Rubicon 2001 and Hamilton Russel Pinot Noir. “Newton Johnson Pinot Noir 2006 is drinking beautifully at the moment and De Grendel Koetshius will always be a favourite,” says Richard.
The wines they would most like to fill their cellar with are largely international ones, “Château Mouton Rothschild” being the first words to race out of Richard’s mouth. They would love the opportunity to be exposed to more international tastings with specific interest in learning more about Bordeaux, California, Burgundy and New Zealand wines. “We are not wine snobs and don’t belong to any wine clubs, which means we often feel intimidated when faced with international wines,” says Anine.
There are still umpteen opportunities to change certain aspects of their cellar. Recently, they added over 40 bottles of special whisky to their cellar stock. “We are hoping the out-of-sight-out-of-mind idea will work here,” jokes Richard. Their current plans are to build their Cap Classique and Champagne collections as well as Pinot Noir. Richard is in the process of collecting the estate-branded metal caps from bubbly bottles with the intention of placing them side by side across the entire floor of the cellar with a resin over for further interest, intrigue and enjoyment of the space.
RICHARD AND ANINE’S TOP TIPS:
• Just do it! The contents and systems can be altered at a later stage but get the cellar going.
• Ensure you obtain the proper advice about support structures and foundations of your home so that these are not compromised in the building of your cellar.
• Patience. Make sure you buy wines to drink now as well as ones to store. “Quaffing wine need not be cellared and can thus be kept in easy access and enjoyed immediately. Learn to recognise the difference in wines that require ageing. Buy several bottles of each wine so that you can
taste over a period of time to see how the wines develop but ensure you keep the wines until they reach their best potential.”
