Forget dark and damp basement vino vaults — today’s connoisseurs are storing wines front and center in custom, captivating displays.

Designed by

Joseph & Curtis Custom Wine Cellars

, this peekaboo, dining-room wine display at a private home in Princeton, NJ, accommodates 1,500 bottles. The racks were constructed from 200-year-old chestnut wood sourced from Pennsylvania; soundproof glass keeps the wine room quiet enough for serious sipping.

Paneled in walnut and dotted with contemporary stainless-steel pegs, this 1,200-bottle cellar stars in a California home. LED backlighting adds warmth; bottles can be positioned cork out, or horizontally to flaunt fancy labels. It was created by

Heritage Vine

, which also frequently designs custom cellars for NYC clients.

Custom-built, 10½-foot-high, stainless-steel rod “ladders” hold 1,100 bottles of vino at NYC’s landmarked, just-reopened hotel The Knickerbocker. This wine wall by

Genuwine Cellars

(which also does home commissions) adds a dramatic backdrop to the hotel’s fourth-floor bar. It features textured-glass walls that surround the climate-controlled cellar.