Dave Oshinsky once spent a few days bicycling through New Zealand’s wine country. He learned where different varietals flourished, and made notes about how unusual weather affected the vintages he preferred. He wasn’t doing research for his own vineyard. He just wanted to have a better idea of what to expect from bottles he might purchase for his wine collection back home.

Over the past few years, that kind of passionate enthusiasm for collecting and sharing fine wines has caused a reported 35-50% surge in the demand for at-home wine storage and tasting rooms. Aficionados are well aware that wine must be properly stored, and savvy builders have stepped up with designs that cater to wine collectors’ personalities and styles of entertaining.

While many connoisseurs still build cellars and wine tasting rooms that favor traditional looking stone or classic hardwoods, more and more playfulness is creeping into the rarified wine tasting world. A contemporary solution reflecting unique sensibilities can be created for any space or budget.

When Dave and his wife, Kim, move into their new home, they plan to renovate a closet in the garage. “The garage houses our home theater system, so that’s where I want my wines stored,” Dave explains. “It’ll be fun to have people over for wine and a movie.”

Business Week on-line reports on a Texan who had his contemporary wine cellar constructed entirely out of stainless steel components and a former Princeton basketball star who obtained a portion of his old home court to incorporate into the floor of his wine room. The Robb Report found a San Franciscan who built a gorgeous vaulted wine loft above his media room.

But whether your wine is stored in a loft, a closet or a cellar, sharing those bottles with friends is what wine collecting is really all about.