Dramatic Wine Cellar in New Jersey

Welcome back to our blog about building custom wine cellars.

Our latest project in New Jersey started with a blank canvas - a 17' x 17' room which was finished, but not for one of our custom wine cellars.




Check out a video walk-through of this dramatic wine cellar, then read more about the project.



The homeowner had just built the home and was entirely finished except for the wine cellar. He told us that he was tired of making decisions and wanted us to do everything "soup to nuts" including all of the design work.

We began by asking some questions as to the style the homeowner envisioned...we then began to walk through the house to visualize their tastes...we also walked the outside of the home as well. Once we had the feel for their tastes we began to sketch a design - we included pictures, 3D CAD drawings, paint finishes, tile, door swatches, lighting, just about everything the owners would need to see and feel as if they were sitting in the room.



They loved it, and we went right to work!

Once the room was gutted we began to build the wine cellar. The wine cellar had several features: Granite peninsula, smoke eater for cigars, 2 murals with stone effect paint finish, custom humidor, 2 mahogany wrought iron doors and window, Jerusalem gold stone tile with 2 custom mosaics, and of course 3 stone arches 8' tall with 6 scones.





The cellar has a very dramatic feel...the stone tile accents the wine barrel and paint finish...while the "red dragon" granite makes a very bold statement yet picks up all of the colors of the stone arches as well as the murals.



The room was completed with 2 alligator chairs which beg you to light a fine cigar and open a 94 Sassicaia...Bellissimo!!



Please stay tuned for the opening of La Bionda (the blond girl) which is under renovations in Manville NJ...it will open in August with a night club in back, fine Italian food, brick oven pizza, and of course a Joseph & Curtis custom wine cellar.

Check out our website www.josephandcurtis.com if you are interested in a custom wine cellar for your home or business.

Cheers!

Man Caves with Joseph & Curtis

Joseph & Curtis Custom Wine Cellars recently completed its second episode of the Man Caves show on DIY network.

Every guy needs a space to call his own… a sanctuary where boys can be boys, where life essentials include a wet bar, a poker table and a place to watch the game with the fellas. And of course a custom wine cellar! Joseph &Curtis joined DIY Network’s Jason Cameron and football great Tony “The Goose” Siragusa to offer our idea to this particular space in Kennilworth, NJ.





We spoke with the DIY design team and producer John Marsala several times before the actual taping of the episode...trying to figure the best idea for this particular mancave. We asked about the owners interests and were told he loved food and wine. John mentioned a second kitchen was going to be installed in the basement.



Our design team went to work on an idea to have 6 sections of redwood custom racking which would represent 6 different food groups (pesce,pollo etc).



We included a chalkboard sign above each rack with the name of each food group. The owner loved the idea of being able to make a fish dish and walk over to the "pesce" rack for a perfect match.



It took us a little over 3 weeks to coordinate, design, and assemble the racking...being true "veterans" of the DIY network we knew it would make more sense to assemble the racking at our shop which we did. The man cave show has a two day limit in completing the entire space...so we made it very easy on ourselves by bringing two of our craftsman and doing the bulk of the work ahead of time.



When we arrived in Kennilworth we met with the homeowner for a final walk through...hung out w "the goose" and Jason and then began to make the chalk boards. Tony felt the racking needed to have a platform to raise the racking off of the floor which we built on site. After about 5 hours we installed the platform, chalkboard, and custom wine racks with display rows and 750ml storage.

We also included a cellar management software for all of the owners inventory needs.



As all of this was being done the rest of the basement was being installed as well. A kitchen, flat
screen, paint, a custom dinner table which came out especially nice (made by Jason). By the time we finished with our "shots" the basement looked fantastic. The homeowner was thrilled and so were we.

We plan on doing more episodes in the future...and we will keep everyone informed as to when the shows will air. Who knows maybe there will be a show called WINE CAVES with J & C (something we are working towards)



Cheers!

Vega Sicilia Dinner & Spanish Wine Festival

Join PJ Wine and Joseph & Curtis Custom Wine Cellars for two spectacular wine tasting events. PJ Wine, one of our friends, is sponsoring a couple exclusive wine events in mid-June that are sure to pique the interest of Spanish wine lovers.

If you don't have many Spanish bottles in your wine cellars but have been meaning to expand your collection, we recommend getting in touch with PJ Wine.

PJ’s has built a nationally recognized reputation for its extensive Spanish wine selection. Named one of the best retailers in the country for Spanish wines by The Rosengarten Report, the PJ Wine team tastes thousands of Spanish wines every year. Their accumulated years of experience tasting and traveling to Spain allows the PJ Wine team to uncover and bring back the very best of Spain.

Vega Sicilia Dinner - June 17th

Here is a rare opportunity to drink 8 vintages of Spain’s most lauded wine, Vega Sicilia, while dining at one of New York’s most prestigious restaurants, Daniel. More information




Spanish Wine Festival 2009 - June 18th

Join PJ Wine for this opportunity to celebrate and sample over 150 of the best Spanish wine selections available on the US market, paired with scrumptious Spanish cuisine. Every major wine region will be represented, including such classics as Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Priorat and Sherry, and hot emerging regions like Toro, Bierzo, Jumilla and more. More information



Thank you for stopping by, we are working on a couple new blogs about recent custom wine cellar projects, so stay tuned for more.

Cheers!

Summit Wine Cellar Q & A

Welcome back everyone. If you have been reading our blog, you know that we recently had the pleasure of working with Dan A. from Summit NJ. The homeowner was very detail oriented, with African mahogany wood raised panel and coffer ceilings throughout the entire basement. We decided the wine cellar needed to blend with the overall look yet have its own unique footprint in the space. We decided to build the racking out of 100% Malaysian mahogany (which is a lighter species of mahogany than African) to really contrast the other woodwork in the basement...as well the custom bar.



Once the cellar was finished we decided to bring Dan into Italian Wine Merchants for a night in their "vintage room"...It's a night of sensational food and wine pairings. Dan has also been back with his wife and even tried the tripe (which he loved). Dan was very impressed with IWM'S philosophy and attention to detail and even decided to sign up for their cellar management software.



Since we were in Summit catching up with Dan about his wine cellar and taking some pictures, we decided to ask Dan about his new cellar and to learn a bit about his favorite wines.

Q: How is the cellar?
A: We love it. We do alot of entertaining in the basement and of course the wine cellar. My father has always made his own wine so I have always had an interest in wine. I love the fact you can share it with so many people as well as the chance for the wines to increase in value.

Q: How many bottles do you currently have?
A: about 600

Q: What is your favorite part of the wine cellar?
A: Besides all the wine...the mural. It was hand painted into a niche in the
custom wine racks that was from a photo of my families villa in Gallinaro, Italy. I also like the granite which ties in the granite from the bar. We also decided to turn the sump pump closet into a storage area in the wine cellar rather than closing up the area with a door. Joseph and Curtis were able to design racks that fit the space and tied both rooms together. We currently have some large format displays in the niche area.



Q: What wines have you been drinking lately?
A: Alot of Sangiovese and northern Italian wines...Barolo, Nebbiolo etc.
I have always loved super-tuscans but after working with IWM we have been able to try some fantastic wines from not only Italy but France as well.

Q: What are your favorite everyday wines?
A: Movia,Tenuta San Guido 2005 Guidalberto

Q: How about special occasions?
A: Barolo or Amarone

Q: You get locked in the wine cellar..you can choose only 1 bottle to open...which is it?
A: Sassicia 2004

Q: How is the Italian Wine Merchants cellar management software?
A: Love it. Very easy to use...I go to it very often. It gives you the ability to leave tasting notes...as well as organizing your cellar to the exact bottle count. It has charts, graphs, and will even show your percentages of the regions or countries your wine is from. I also love the write ups about the producers and will take you to their websites.

Dan, thanks for sharing your passion for wine with our readers. It was a pleasure creating your wine cellar and we are very pleased you and your wife are enjoying it. We wish you many years of enjoyment!

Cheers!

Cigar Humidor Preparation Tips

At Joseph & Curtis, we not only build wine cellars for our clients to preserve their wine collection, we also build custom humidors to preserve their cigar collection.

When I started smoking cigars several years ago I found myself a little lost when it came to the proper storage of my collection. There were plenty of products out there that looked beautiful and promised a fine seal or boasted of Spanish Cedar but I had heard enough horror stories to know that there were some nuances on which I needed further education before making my purchase.

After some light research, I decided to purchase a humidor with a solid wood lid. There is no question that a humidor with a glass lid like the Chancellor humidor or the Regent humidor makes for a beautiful presentation, however, a wood lid is preferable for long-term storage, particularly if you plan to keep the humidor in an area exposed to sunlight. I am not a heavy cigar smoker and I keep a small collection of fine cigars on hand which I have found age quite nicely in my small solid wood desktop humidor.

For my purposes, the Napoli Humidor excels. Its simple design is elegant, quality construction ensures a tight seal and the interior is crafted with fine Spanish Cedar. The size is also perfect for a light smoker like myself who keeps no more than a couple dozen cigars on hand at any given time.

After configuration, size and aesthetic considerations have been taken into account the lining of your potential humidor must be scrutinized. A Spanish Cedar lining is very important. Some humidors on the market use inexpensive liners which will lead to variable humidity levels and could destroy your cigars.

Once you decide which humidor to purchase you need to understand the basics before putting your valuable collection of cigars inside. The typical humidor uses a sponge inside a plastic or metal case to generate humidity. The hygrometer displays the humidity level inside the humidor and, typically, you want to keep this at around 70%. More important than keeping strict to a minimum humidity level is preventing rapid or frequent changes to humidity.

The first step to generating the proper environment inside your humidor is to be taken before you ever put your first cigar inside. Humidor preparation is essential to maintaining your collection. First, your hygrometer must be calibrated in order to give an accurate reading. The easiest method of doing this is to remove the hygrometer from the humidor, wrap it in a thoroughly moistened cloth, wait about an hour, and then adjust the hygrometer to display a relative humidity of 96%.

The second step is to moisten the Spanish Cedar lining of your humidor using a clean cloth saturated with distilled water - only use distilled water for this process just as you will only use distilled water to hydrate your sponge (a wet environment will tend to grow things if not kept sanitary). Moistening the cedar is a very important step because the humidity in the air and the saturation of the wood and sponge must all hit a level of equilibrium before you put your cigars in the humidor.

If you have prepared your humidor properly it will require very little maintenance. Just make sure that it is stored in a place that is not subject to temperature and humidity changes. Using a small system like described above, you will want to open the lid as infrequently as possible and rotation of the cigars is unnecessary. During the winter the sponge will demand more water and this fact alone demonstrates the importance of obtaining a humidor with a proper seal around the lid. Under normal conditions, you should find yourself adding water to the system every couple weeks to keep the needle on your hygrometer as steady as possible.

With the correct preparation of the humidor and some very light maintenance, you will be able to age a collection of fine cigars to perfection with any Joseph & Curtis premium humidors.

Cheers!

Special Winemaker Tasting Event

An Evening of Vintage Movia with Ales Kristancic

Thursday, May 7, 2009, 6:30 PM

Don't believe a white can age 40 years? Doubt a Friulian and Slovenian red or white can challenge Burgundy? Not sure what biodynamic wines truly are?

Joseph & Curtis Wine Cellars invites you to experience a truly unprecedented winemaker event that will challenge what you think you know about wine with our partner Italian Wine Merchants. A vintage collection of Movia wines dating back to 1967, and on through 2006, will be presented and poured by the master winemaker Ales Kristancic. This is a rare opportunity to taste these wines as this special collection is being sent directly from Ales's cellar.

For more information and to purchase a ticket, please click here.

We look forward to sharing some of Ales Kristancic's finest wine with you.

Cheers!

Meet Scott Cutaneo World Class Chef

Where does an all-star chef go once the restaurant he has owned achieves almost cult status...4 stars...and a worldwide following? He becomes the owner and full time chef at Equus Tavern in Bernardsville, NJ. Of course I am talking about Scott Cutaneo (former owner of Le Petite Chateau).



After spending time with Scott (whom I consider a personal friend) its impossible to not feel his passion for food, wine, friendship, integrity, quality and above all family. His eye for detail is remarkable. His passion for food is second to none.

Read Scott Cutaneo's bio at the Equus Tavern website.

At Equus his mission is simple...everyone is a VIP and yet nobody is a VIP...he wants everyone to feel welcomed. At the Equus Tavern he wants everyone to know that he is here to serve...and that all who enter will feel this extension of his heart.

Equus is one of the nicest restaurants in NJ. The inside had a major renovation 2 years ago...but never lost the true integrity of the 1850 landmark stone structure.

The address is 1 Mill St Bernardsville, NJ 07924
(908) 766-3737

>> Google Map & Directions

Equus offers a full bar with private party availability on the 2nd floor and a gorgeous outdoor patio. Scott plans on a new menu dedicated to the amazing foods he prepared at le petite chateau but with a true American flare. The wine list is also going to be similar to the previous restaurant as well.



Equus will be having its friends and family party April 15 from 6:30-until. Please give J&C a call for availability. We were honored to be chosen for the wine cabinet enclosure on the main dining floor...pictures soon to follow.

Scott Cutaneo is also a regular on Fox & Friends, check out his website Great Scott Chef for video clips.



Scott is also involved with www.teatogether.com, their products are TRULY second to none..and will be featured in many of the amazing dishes at Equus. Tea Together's mission is "to turn the unremarked details of day-to-day life into small but authentic pleasures. In doing so, we promote and encourage the cause of real food."

I cannot tell you what an honor it is to be working with our friend Scott Cutaneo "Great Scott" and the Equus Tavern restaurant. At J&C we give Equus 5 stars...we think you will as well!

Cheers!