Electro-chromatic smart-glass filters out ultraviolet rays and can go opaque with the click of a switch. LED lighting, which doesn’t generate heat that could cook the wine, has revolutionized the way designers create lighting effects.
Not to mention better security through fingerprint entry.
Cash has even patented two rack designs, a wine wheel based on the Lazy-Susan concept and a new revolving tower, that let you see labels without touching the bottles. (He won’t reveal client names, but one of them is Richard Branson.)
What People Want Right Now
“Our clients want a place where they can sample wine,” says Lucy Savanis, head of private-client design for London interior designer and developer Finchatton. That means having a central tasting table or island and comfortable seating for sharing their passion with guests before or after dinner. Actually, dining in the cellar is passé; the new trend is having the cellar next to the dining area.
“People want the design to integrate with their home,” says David Spon. While some designers, such as Kline, say steel and glass is very trendy now, others say that clients increasingly want a blend of the traditional and contemporary, juxtaposing glass wood, although once-popular redwood is very much a thing of the past.
“Strategic lighting is very hot,” says Joseph Kline. “People use it to highlight special bottles in their collection like a jewelry display.” He sees expanding the color spectrum of lighting as a new trend. One client in the Hamptons wanted rose-colored backlighting, another wanted blue.
“The ability to monitor their cellars remotely is important to most of my clients," says Jim Cash. A wine collection is valuable, so they want to protect it as much as they can, and security has become even more important.
Serious collectors with a large number of bottles are now opting for two cellars, says Goldenberg. They have one below ground for long-term storage and a second, smaller one upstairs for the bottles they’re drinking now.
How Much Do They Cost?
Oh, ah, the price. Designer cellars don’t come cheap. David Spon, who says three-quarters of his clients are Wall Streeters, bases his quotes on the number of bottles: for 100 to 600, up to $46,000; 800 to 1,300, up to $75,000; 1,500 to 2,500, up to $130,000; and 2,700 to 4,700, up to $220,000. Some designers charge more. Goldenberg is now working on a $500,000 cellar (remember, that doesn’t include the wine itself).
Cost also depends on materials and special requests. Lucy Savanis says one client wanted a refrigerated wine lift so he could bring up wines from his cellar at the touch of a button. (It featured paneling fitted with suede in racing green to match the interior of his Aston Martin.)