Springtime homes - I really really appreciate your feedback, however you are not entirely correct. I have been reading up on how to set this up and the upper 1/3 to 1/2 of the foundation needs to be insulated to prevent heat transferring from the upper parts of the soil and the exterior foundation. Unfortunately we are forced to either have this at the west or east side of the foundation (one wall) so that creates additional difficulties. It is the bottom portion of the wall and the floor itself that keeps the room cool. The room itself will be close to air tight due to a vapor barrier and a well insulated exterior door entering the room. The walls shared with the house and the ceiling will be VERY will insulated, to the highest R value that we can fit into the space! :) I'm really curious if there is anyone on GardenWeb who has built a passive wine cellar themselves and if they have any specific tips beyond what is standard. There are 3 main questions I have as well. 1. For instance. I wonder if there is a way to separate the concrete floor from the rest of the basement while the foundation is being laid so that there is not any heat transfer through the concrete in the rest of the basement? 2. If one (or two) of the exterior walls are completely under the house and not shared the the rest of the homes foundation, then would their be any difference in how you insulate the concrete from the exterior? 3. And, should I plan for two or three exterior walls? The problem with planning three is that it would make it very difficult to then add a cooling system if this didn't end up working.

Thanks for the suggestions! I clipped both recipes, debated about the Sangria, but for now it just went into the freezer. Unfortunately I still have a couple more bottles in my wine fridge so I can try these ideas. (They came from someone who had cases of it left over after a failed business venture of importing wine. He blamed the failure on Italians being very difficult to work with. But I tend to think the wine that he was trying to import may have had something to do with the failure!) Westelle - Believe me, this wine didn't stand a chance of opening up! Jessy - Oh yeah, sediment city. Lyra - I like your line of thinking!

"1. Ridge Lytton Estate 2002 California Grenache/ Syrah 2. Château Souverain 2003 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 3. Merryvale Starmont 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley " Ridge is one of the great wineries in CA. Respected all around the world. That wine is, or was, only available to people who bought directly from the winery since not much was available. I never loved it as much as I wanted to, but it was nonetheless a decent wine and if your friend really loves wine, she'd be happy to get a bottle, esp as it shows a thoughtfulness, i.e. you can't just walk into any store and buy it. Souverain - not a bad wine for what it is. 2003 wasn't a great year in the area and it's a fairly widely available wine. Not special enough. Merryvale Starmont - a better year overall than the 2003, but still not special enough as a winery. A little too pedestrian for a gift.

I think the wine smell will eventually dissapate. Clean up as much as possible and let it dry. I had two jugs of wine for cooking freeze in my car while out shopping and the bottles exploded. Yes, they were glass. The frozen wine could be scrapped up along with most of the glass shards. It was impossible to rinse all of the wine out of the carpet since it was so cold even hot water was freezing on contact. The smell was bad for a while but eventually gone and I did not have to do anything special. Once I had a package of raw meat slide out of the plastic shopping bag and hide under the seat. It was not noticed for about ten days since the car had not been driven anywhere. Ooooph. It was summer. The meat package did not leak but the odor came through and I smelled it for a long time. I sprayed vinegar around the car and lavender water. I don't smell it anymore but it took a long time.