For any wine enthusiast who plans to establish an extensive wine collection, a custom wine cellar is a wise investment; and one of the most in demand wood species used in building wine rooms is redwood.

Traditionally, many vineyards and wineries used redwood for wine cellars and this tradition has been followed since then because of the promising role of redwood. Redwood is grown abundantly in cool, moist forests found in Northern California and considered one the best choices for green building.

Different wood properties should also be considered when building wine cellars. The natural wood preservatives in redwood make it resistant to cool and humid environments and therefore ideal for long-term wine storage. The cell structure of Redwood is open and contains little resins and these characteristics allow redwood to absorb and take well all finishing types.

Redwood has a moisture content of 8-12%, specific gravity of 0.35, modulus of rupture of 54,000kPa, modulus of elasticity of 7,600MPa, compression parallel to grain of 36,000kPa, shear parallel to grain of 7,600kPa and density of 28lbs per cubic foot. To find why these are the best characteristics and how they pertain to wine cellars take a look below.

Moisture content is the weight of moisture in a piece of wood. The strength of wood approximately doubles when it is dried to 12% moisture content and considering redwood's moisture content, its strength is really good.

Modulus of rupture is the wood's maximum load-bearing capacity in bending while modulus of elasticity is the ability of wood to recover from deformations once the load it carries is removed. These two parameters are also increased upon drying and the values given above indicate that redwood has the capacity to take on weight such as that of wine bottles as well as preserve its natural form.

Compression parallel to grain is the amount of stress that a wood specimen parallel to grain can withstand and it indicates maximum crushing strength. Shear parallel to grain, on the other hand, is the ability of the wood's internal part to resist slipping upon another part. This means that redwood won't easily crush or break and this is one of the reasons why it is chosen as a wine cellar building material.

Lastly, the weight of the wood per cubic foot is expressed in density and this property is the determinant of the wood's strength. With a density of 28lbs per cubic foot, redwood is considered durable enough to be used in creating furniture.
These properties vary among the different wood species and they affect the performance and durability of wood. Because of the values given, redwood is truly an ideal wood choice in building custom wine cellars.

Redwood comes in two types and the most popular are Premium Redwood and All Heart Redwood. If you want a distinctive wine cellar personality and less cost, choose Premium Redwood. In this way you can allocate more money for the purchase of wines.

Premium Redwood has very attractive color patterns from white to pink, red and reddish brown. The grain patterns found in Premium Redwood are also very pronounced especially if it is stained and lacquer finished. It ranges from an expanded grain pattern to a more compact one. When it comes to durability, Premium Redwood is very dependable as it is resistant to warping, shrinking and decaying.

Clear All Heart Redwood on the other hand is known for its reddish brown and darker earth colors. It looks naturally beautiful if left unstained and it adapts well to weather finishes. It is very resistant to rotting, deformation and infestation and its remarkable durability makes it popular in wine cellar building.

When compared to Premium Redwood, All Heart Redwood is more expensive because of the more complicated harvesting process. But its admirable characteristics make this type of redwood a very valuable material in long-term wine storage.