Next to the Lift Shaft and below the Servants Staircase is the cellar, one part is used for the electrical system and lift operating mechanisms, and the other part is a wine cellar.
The wine cellar is barrel shaped room similar to the barrel vault at the castle and contains several alcoves, these would have been used to store barrels of wine, cheeses and similar food stuffs. The roof has several hooked poles and these would have been used for having game like pheasants and rabbits.
On the opposite side of the alcoves are some wooden shelves, these are used for storing the bottles of wine
It has a stone floor and thick whitewashed walls of rough coursed rubble, and is lined on one side with wine bins which probably date from the late 19th century. Each bin, was deep enough to take two bottles of wine laid neck-to-neck, was devoted to one particular year of one particular wine. The heavy wooden door has a metal grille for ventilation, and is secured with a lock.
A good wine cellar needed to be dry and of an even temperature. It was best built under the house, on the north side, and well away from the drains. Originally wine was stored in the cellar in casks, and then bottled for a short time before being drunk. After 1863, wine was exported in bottles, and brick bins were built in many cellars to replace the old racks for casks. The cellar was the domain of the butler, who kept the key and was responsible for the cellar book, a vital inventory of the wine of the house. Part of his duty was to advise the Laird when stocks were running low, and even to take a connoisseur's interest in the quality of the contents of the cellar. Each morning, he would fetch the wine of the day, and prepare it by allowing it to reach room temperature if red, or bed it in ice if white.
The wine cellar is barrel shaped room similar to the barrel vault at the castle and contains several alcoves, these would have been used to store barrels of wine, cheeses and similar food stuffs. The roof has several hooked poles and these would have been used for having game like pheasants and rabbits.
On the opposite side of the alcoves are some wooden shelves, these are used for storing the bottles of wine
It has a stone floor and thick whitewashed walls of rough coursed rubble, and is lined on one side with wine bins which probably date from the late 19th century. Each bin, was deep enough to take two bottles of wine laid neck-to-neck, was devoted to one particular year of one particular wine. The heavy wooden door has a metal grille for ventilation, and is secured with a lock.
A good wine cellar needed to be dry and of an even temperature. It was best built under the house, on the north side, and well away from the drains. Originally wine was stored in the cellar in casks, and then bottled for a short time before being drunk. After 1863, wine was exported in bottles, and brick bins were built in many cellars to replace the old racks for casks. The cellar was the domain of the butler, who kept the key and was responsible for the cellar book, a vital inventory of the wine of the house. Part of his duty was to advise the Laird when stocks were running low, and even to take a connoisseur's interest in the quality of the contents of the cellar. Each morning, he would fetch the wine of the day, and prepare it by allowing it to reach room temperature if red, or bed it in ice if white.
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