No cellar in your fifth-floor apartment? Don’t worry. Every home has a place where wine can be stored.

Your kitchen probably contains the ingredients for several meals. A wine cellar is the liquid equivalent. It doesn’t have to hold thousands of bottles of port and claret, just enough for when you say, ‘I really a fancy a glass of …’

A wine cellar is there simply to provide you with what you want to drink when you want to drink it. Anybody with a little ingenuity can create one.

Think of a traditional cellar – cool but not freezing, dark and quiet. You may not have such a place in your abode, but you probably have somewhere where you duplicate such conditions and stash a few bottles. How about in a suitcase under the bed? Or in an old fireplace line filled with short lengths of drainpipe? What about a cupboard under the stairs, or a spare shelf in the wardrobe? 

Polystyrene tiles can be used for insulation. And if all else fails, there are purpose-built (and pricey) climate-controlled cabinets designed to keep wine in ideal conditions.

Fact
Many merchants will store wine you have purchased from them until you’re ready to drink it.