Premises for wine storage and ageing call for a specific indoor climate, which can require high energy consumptions. Underground buildings have the potential to reduce energy demand in comparison to conventional aboveground buildings, by exploiting soil temperatures and ground cover. But the building-underground interaction is site-dependent, therefore an accurate design must take into account every aspect of the thermal interface between them. The objective of the study is to identify the time variations of temperature distributions related to ground layers involved in the interaction with underground buildings in the wine sector. The experimental monitoring system for surface ground temperature and shallow temperature beside and below an underground cellar is described. Based on data acquired, a numerical interpretative and predictive model for temperature behaviour in surface and shallow layers was developed. The model was calibrated through specific parameters able to account for the interaction with buildings. The equations developed proved suitable to reproduce the phenomena surveyed. Therefore, they allow to correctly design the interface between underground buildings and the terrain, on the basis of temperature data which can be surveyed in the soil at different depths, or within already existing underground artefacts. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.