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France has always shared a special relationship with wine. But it was what the Romans left behind that helped advance the country's affinity with the vine. Pictured are Roman cellars at Reims, built during the Gallic Wars. As early as the 1600s, French champagne makers were repurposing old Roman mining caves for the storage of their effervescent wine.
The Romans were very fond of their wine and were among the first to properly store it, by accident! The first underground cellars were Roman catacombs or underground tombs, where out of necessity through lack of space amphorae (containers) were stored in cool, dry conditions.
In the Middle Ages, monks practiced viticulture to produce the wine necessary for the celebration of mass. In time, however, they acquired a more general taste for the tipple. This in turn led to wine barrels being stored underground along with grains, vegetables, and other perishable foodstuffs.
The medieval period saw abbeys and monasteries across Europe making their own wines. Religious rites required a great deal of it. However, it was also a staple of the monks' diets. Vineyards expanded, as did cellars, making so-called monk wine some of the most influential of the modern era.
Soon, thousands of bottles of champagne were being stored and left to mature in these ancient subterranean storage facilities. Taittinger's Gallo-Roman chalk mines, for example, can be traced back to the 4th century and are located nearly 18 m (60 ft) below the earth's surface.
Pictured is the entrance of an underground wine cellar at Saumur in Maine-et-Loire, around 1911. From France, the practice of storing wine in underground cellars quickly spread across Europe.
The cellars of the Mileștii Mici wine-making plant in Moldova contain over 1.5 million bottles of wine—the largest wine cellar by numbers of bottles in the world, according to Guinness World Records.
But some of the most historic wine cellars remain those established centuries ago and set underground. Pictured is the Cattier champagne cellar located in Chigny-les-Roses. The Cattier family has owned vineyards since 1625.
The wine cellar of Le Château Margaux in Bordeaux. A renowned wine estate, it achieved premier cru (first growth) status in the Bordeaux Classification of 1855. Its limited edition 2009 bottles are some of the most expensive wines ever to be sold.
Wine cellars can make an extraordinary impact within commercial premises. Pictured is L'Intendant Grands Vins de Bordeaux, a Bordeaux wine store that features a cellar in a staircase.
This exquisitely carved wine barrel was photographed in the wine cellar of the Hotel Astor on Broadway in 1904, the year the famous New York property opened. The Astor closed in 1967. Many hotels around the world are renowned for their wine cellars.
In this February 1954 photograph, a glass of sherry illuminated by candlelight stands next to a cobwebbed barrel of sherry in a wine cellar in Jerez de la Frontera in Spain. Jerez sits within the Sherry Triangle, an area in the province of Cádiz noted for the production of the famous fortified wine.
Sources: (USA Today) (Heritage Vine Inc.) (Second Bottle) (Worldwide Wine Tours) (Guinness World Records)
See also: How to taste wine like a pro
The wine cellar of The Forge, one of the oldest restaurants in Miami Beach, Florida. Its roster of celebrity guests include Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra.
Wine cellars are often used as stages on which to host special occasions, for example music concerts. Pictured is the underground amphitheater-style cellar hall at Bodegas Salentein in the Valle de Uco district of Mendoza province, Argentina.
The Tavern of the 7 Juanes in Villa Clara, Cuba famously sells an astonishing variety of wines and has put this city on the world map, helped also by the fact that Santa Clara is the location of the Che Guevara monument and mausoleum.
Barrels lined up in the wine cellar of Château Beychevelle in Saint-Julien-Beychevelle, France. This is a perfect example of how architects can transform hallowed Bordeaux wine cellars into art pieces worthy of a museum installation.
Wine cellars don't have to be hidden away underground. This is the remarkable Bodegas Ysios located in Spain's Álava province near Bilboa.
The former Cistercian monastery of Eberbach in Eltville, Germany dates back to 1136. The refectory is home to 12 historic wine presses. The cellars, meanwhile, are still used to store wine. In the winter of 1985/86, some of the interior scenes of 'The Name of the Rose' (1986), starring Sean Connery, were filmed here.
A large oak wine cask dated back to 1810 and donated by the French Emperor Napoleon I to Moët & Chandon is seen in the winery's cellars in Epernay in the champagne production region of eastern France.
The cellars of Bodegas Cabriñana in the Sierra de Montilla near Córdoba in Spain. Like many wineries, Cabriñana is set on a national wine route and allows visitors to tour the premises before tasting a selection of wines.
The cathedral-like interior of the Château Cheval Blanc wine cellars. Established in the 19th century at Saint-Emilion in southwestern France, Château Cheval Blanc is one of the region's most recognized labels.
The highly unusual Gombos Hill wine cellars in Hungary’s famous Tokaj wine region are characterized by their unique triangle-shaped design. The cellars are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site cultural landscape.
Located in Santiago in Chile, the Viña Cousiño Macul winery dates back to 1870 and features a wine cellar fashioned out of a library where shelves now serve as wine racks. Wines found here include a legendary 1927 Finis Terrae, a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard, founded in 1856, is the oldest in the country.
Oak barrels over a hundred years old stand in the Grand Cellar under the Changyu Wine Culture Museum in Yantai. Established in 1892, Changyu is China's oldest and largest winery.
The eye-catching architecture of Hungerford Hill wine cellar, restaurant, and winery complex in the heart of the Hunter Valley wine region, just a two-hour drive north of Sydney, Australia.
The odd-looking Bodegas Güell in Garraf near Barcelona was designed as a wine cellar by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). It now serves as a restaurant.
The Tom McDonald wine cellar at Church Road winery at Hawkes Bay in Napier on North Island was built as a tribute to the pioneering father of quality red winemaking in New Zealand.
Similarly, the wine cellars at the Schramsberg Vineyards winery in California's Napa Valley are designed to host wine tastings and other social events.
The world's oldest wine cellar is believed to be the Tel Cabri wine cellar discovered in present-day Israel in the ruins of a city constructed and lived in by the Canaanites. The remains of the jars found date back to about 1700 BCE.
Storing wine exclusively underground continued until the modern era, when new technology allowed for climatic conditions to be controlled automatically in purpose-built cellars above ground. They accomplish the same purpose of protecting wine from vibration, erratic fluctuating temperatures, damaging UV light, and more.
The Romans first had the idea of storing wine underground. Medieval monks stacked their wines in catacombs under abbeys and monasteries across Europe. In time, custom-built wine cellars across the world were protecting wines from vibration, erratic fluctuating temperatures, and damaging UV light. Today, a wine cellar can be far more than a depository for fine wines and champagnes: they can host public gatherings and music concerts, and even provide a backdrop for Hollywood movies.
Click through and pour over the history of the wine cellar.
The ancient wine cellars of Italy's Basilicata region are carved out of the soft tufa, or "tuff," limestone rock the area is famous for. The cellar pictured is owned by the Cantine del Notaio winery, one of the most important wine producers in southern Italy.
Barrels of wine are stored in Bremen's Ratskeller in Germany. Among the wines stored in the vaults is the oldest German cask wine from 1653. The Ratskeller is located under Bremen's city hall, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.
Fascinating wine cellars through the ages
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The Romans first had the idea of storing wine underground. Medieval monks stacked their wines in catacombs under abbeys and monasteries across Europe. In time, custom-built wine cellars across the world were protecting wines from vibration, erratic fluctuating temperatures, and damaging UV light. Today, a wine cellar can be far more than a depository for fine wines and champagnes: they can host public gatherings and music concerts, and even provide a backdrop for Hollywood movies.
Click through and pour over the history of the wine cellar.