PA Wine Cellars

Wine is a complex combination of many chemical compounds, which change as they interact with each other and their environment. Intricate reactions between the acids, sugars, alcohols, esters and phenolic compounds in wine are what modify the aromas in the bottle.

The earliest evidence of stored wine comes from 7,000 year-old pottery jugs that were buried in the dirt floor of a Neolithic kitchen in Iran. The Romans used their catacombs. The French began the practice of digging wine caves designed specially to store their adored beverage. Wine collectors turned from catacombs to caves, and from caves to cellars.

For thousands of years, wine collectors have known that the dark, damp, and cool conditions underground improve their favorite beverage. For the Romans, what best fit the bill was the hundreds of miles of subterranean cemeteries that ran beneath their city.