We deal with an application of partial differential equations to the correct definition of a wine cellar. We present some historical details about this problem. We also discuss how to build or renew a wine cellar, creating ideal conditions for the ageing process and improving the quality of wines. Our goal is to calculate the optimal depth z[subscript 0] of a wine cellar in order to attenuate the periodic temperature fluctuations. What follows is a kind of survey of wine-related and optimization problems which have been solved by means of powerful math tools.